Dress and skirt hemlines rose annually throughout most of the twenties decade. After starting from just above the ankle, and gradually rising to knee level, hems fell again briefly in the late 1920's; also sleeveless dresses were introduced and became very popular almost immediately. Brighter colors, simpler designs, beads, new synthetic materials like Rayon, new cuts and styling were incorporated in dresses made from considerably less yards of material than had been used previously. French fashion designers established themselves as the leading worldwide trend-setters in designing clothing fashions for both women and men. Paper template dressmaking patterns were introduced to make it easier for women to create the new style fashions at home, and correspondence school lessons in dressmaking and millinery became extremely popular with women in the cities and rural communities.