Exhibit C (FLAPPERS)

In the early 20th century a cultural and social transformation happened in the name of, Flappers. Women were required to follow the Victorian-era social norms prior to the 1920s. Women’s movement and public appearance were governed by corsets, lengthy gowns, and constrained shapes. The standards of "modesty" were linked to clothing. The flapper evolved into a symbol that represented the liberation of people who had been constrained for a long time and altered perceptions of womanhood between the collapse of Victorian standards and the growth of urban life.

Following the war, younger women dismissed traditional notions of femininity. They entered the workforce and gained their right to vote [in America]. The flapper emerged as a clear representation of a great transformation in how women were presenting themselves socially. Short bob hairstyles, dropped-waist gowns, knee length-skirt, smoking, dancing, and nightlife defied traditional expectations for women's behaviour. The body itself became an element of this change. The corseted form gave way to a more carefree look that represented freedom of movement and desire. When they danced, the fringed beads and sequins were intended to catch the light.


At the same time, the flapper also reflected contradictions within modern culture. The freedom associated with the image was often connected to consumer culture, leisure, and class privilege.

The kinds of independence shown in periodicals and films were not available to all women. 
As a result, the flapper may be interpreted as a representation of shifting social norms as well as an image influenced by popular culture and fashion.

Flappers were frequently seen by older generations as careless or immoral. They were often depicted as emblems of extravagance, nightlife, and societal instability in newspapers and movies. This response illustrates how fashion, particularly in times of cultural change, may become a source of controversy. In addition to reflecting society, clothing also questions societal norms and sparks discussion about behaviour, gender, and identity.

Following the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the start of the Great Depression, the flapper period began to wane.

Paul Poiret had a significant role in the evolution of fashion from a mechanism for controlling the body to a tool for creating identities. Working in the early twentieth century, Poiret altered the relationship between garment and body, allowing movement to become part of fashion’s visual language. In Poiret’s work, the body was no longer treated as a fixed form that required discipline through structure. Instead, fashion began to produce a more mobile and unstable identity, one constructed through performance, gesture, and appearance. Draped fabrics, loosened waists, and vertical silhouettes created a body that appeared less confined by social codes and more capable of occupying public space differently.


The idea of the Flappers is often described as boyish or “garçonne” silhouette in women’s fashion. What is striking is how this silhouette, once considered radical and masculine, is now widely understood as feminine within contemporary fashion. The “garçonne” body blurred distinctions between masculine and feminine dress, allowing women to occupy modern identity in a different way. Over time however, these visual codes became absorbed into mainstream fashion culture and the society. What was once read as rebellious or androgynous is now normalized as part of feminine dress itself. This reveals how fashion continuously reshapes the meaning of gender, transforming forms once seen as transgressive into accepted expressions of identity and beauty.