Fashion In Film Friday - The Flapper

Since the early 1900's when motion pictures were first coming to life, costumes have been the most important element.  Aside from the actors capability to make you believe in the characters they portray, the wardrobe for each character has been just as much an essential element to each film.  For as long as we can remember, the fashions we've seen in the movies we love to watch have had a major impact on our own personal style choices. The very first vintage film that sparked my interest was "The Flapper", a non talkie flick made in 1919. Actress Olive Thomas was 25 at the time she played the role of a 16 year old pretending to be a flapper. Thomas' look in the film was the embodiment of the trends of the approaching 1920's, from the bobbed hairstyles & cloche hats, to the short hemmed fringe flapper dresses that shimmied.

Olive Thomas, born in 1894, was an American silent film actress and socialite who gained her rise to stardom after being hired as a dancer in the Ziegfield Follies.  A vixen in her time, known for being a wild party girl, Thomas posed nude for a Peruvian artist before she went on to sign with an international film company to which she acted in over twenty movies in four years.  Her untimely death at the young age of 26, happened by accident when on a coke binge, she mistook her husbands syphilis meds (liquid mercury bi chloride) for either water or alcohol?  Either way, she screwed up big time and it cost her, her life...

'Flappers' by common definition, were women who were seen as non conventional in that they had no shame in their game and were totally not unopposed to wearing excessive makeup, drinking booze, smoking, driving and most of all had no issues with professing their attitudes towards sexuality which was unheard of at the time!  Sounds like they laid the ground work out for us!
I absolutely am in love with the designs of this era and am convinced that this timeless style will always be 'IN'.  Just this past year we are still seeing designers at the board, creating their unique versions of the 'modern flapper'

pics: silentsaregolden.com, tumblr.com, myspace.com, maureentillman.blogspot.com, freenewfashiondesign.com

Brigitte Bardot...Sex Kitten Of The 50's & 60's

There were many female celebrities who sparked the 'women's movement' with their overt sense of sexuality and that was way before pop icon Madonna did  back in the 50's & 60's & Brigitte Bardot, was most definitely one of them!  Born in Paris, France, Brigitte was a voluptuous beauty who's body image had a major impact on fashion.  

  
A neckline style was even named after her...the 'Bardot' which is a wide open neck exposing both shoulders and a whole lot more!

Her early desire was to be a dancer but soon found fame in acting, becoming known world wide after starring in the sexy thriller 'And God Created Woman'.  The film pushed censorship boundaries but as usual..sex always sells however, I have to laugh at the idea of 'a torrid tropical dance' being considered as risque considering what we see on the screen nowadays, let alone at home on our own televisions!

Besides the neckline style, Bardot is said to have been solely responsible for the rise in the popularity of the bikini, as well as the vintage beehive hairstyle.  She was called 'bikini girl' because pretty much all of the movies she starred in from the beginning had her portraying naughty sex kittens who pranced around in hardly anything!  As her career progressed she flashed some B&B (boobs & bunns) quite often and even agreed to do a rape scene. 

In her elder years, Brigitte has been in the tabloids on both a positive and negative note.  Positive because she's an animal activist and negative because unfortunately this once beautiful woman is a profound racist who was convicted on June 10th 2004 for 'inciting racial hatred'.  A true example of how sometimes 'beauty is only skin deep'...

: mulherevida.com , toptenz.net , popcrunch.net , allposters.com , strangecosmos.com , direct-mail.com   upi.com 

Jazzin It Up!

In the 1920's there was a liberation movement of sorts as women became more free spirited.  They smoked, danced, cut their hair short, wore make up and dared to take risks.  These women were called 'flappers'...

Flapper, by definition:

flap·per/ˈflapər/Noun

1. (in the 1920s) A fashionable young woman intent on enjoying herself and flouting conventional standards of behavior.

Flappers were generally urban, single, young middle-class women who usually held steady jobs by day and frequented jazz clubs by night.  These women sought to break down the barriers of the double standards that were the norm between men and women back in that era.  They were smoking, drinking & exploring their sexuality without reservation, at a time when it was unheard of for women.

This was definitely the time of the birth of 'female independence', as these reckless femmes were all about 'jazzin' it up' in every aspect of their lives!

The spirit of vintage speakeasy fashion is still alive and well circa 2011 as designers such as Rodarte, Reyes, Christian Dior and Reem Acra have designed flapper inspired frocks for the 21st century...

The HBO hit series Empire Boardwalk, set in the time of the prohibition has definitely had a huge influence on conjuring back up the style of the roaring 20's...

Thanks to these vintage rebels of days gone by, women have since been doin' it for themselves!!!  


 zoomaa.files.wordpress.com , fidamo.com , beautifullittlefools2.blogspot.com , pinterest.com , watch-boardwalkempire-online.com