The Flapper By Day

Celebrating the Roaring Twenties in a Special Series

Most people today associate beaded and fringed evening gowns accompanied by the ubiquitous headband and cigarette holder with the quintessential flapper look. But this is not what women wore in the 1920s during the day.

With the emancipation of women and the rise of designers like Coco Chanel and Jean Patou, women’s clothing became simpler and more relaxed in the 1920s. While knit fabrics (pioneered by Chanel who famously donned a long jersey sweater on the Normandy beach as early as 1913) were popular for sports or resortwear, day dresses were more formal and constructed from woven fabrics.

Black, white and floral dresses. Click the image and jump through to a great story on recreating the 20s daywear look, at Style High ClubThese flappers wear their white dresses with knits and black stockings. Purchase the photo at Etsy store Ephemera Obscura.The familiar elongated garment shape of the 1920s carried through from day to evening, and dresses were cut on very simple lines. These straight tubes were sewn at shoulder and at the sides, making them ideal for easy home construction. Always dropwaisted, and often featuring scoop or low V-necklines, town dresses usually had sleeves of varying lengths – from cap to three-quarter to wrist.

A very simple black dress with sash. Purchase the original photo from Acanthe, on Etsy.Another very simple day dress, in white with a black sash. (Original photo sold on eBay.) Daytime Modes for Summer, Simplicity Patterns advertisement, 1920s. Note the spelling of pleats as ‘plaits’! Print sold on eBay by art.deco.diva. Click image for larger version.The trademark details of 1920s dresses include fluid fabrics, pleating, layering, and geometric patterns. They were often designed to look like a separate top and skirt, with a sash or other detail round the middle. Matching scarves were often worn with them. It was not until 1927–28 that dresses reached their shortest length, with hemlines sometimes rising above the knee. Black was very popular for day, and colours in a more muted tonal range.

Of course no outfit was complete without the cloche (proof that one’s hair was cut fashionably short), high-shine stockings, low-heeled bar shoes, and a long necklace. Short necklaces were matched with knee-length dresses, and the very long opera length necklace was worn with longer dresses.

Styling the Look

My twenties-style outfit – very much in keeping with the flapper spirit – is actually made up of a separate top and skirt, but I’m so pleased with how well they match. The black and cream blouse is a souvenir from Vietnam (as are most of the bangles), and the black wool skirt with its cream silk insert is by Melbourne designer Obüs, from many seasons ago. The wool hat trimmed with grosgrain ribbon is original 1920s, and was in fact my very first vintage hat purchase. The sunglasses (since broken) are vintage 1980s. 

Scroll down for more vintage 1920s dresses, all available to purchase on Etsy (as at publication date). Click images to jump through to individual stores.  

Ivory silk dress with peach collar and cuffsBeautifully draped cinnamon brown silk crêpe de chine dress with amazing bow detail at drop waistExquisitely detailed chocolate brown silk afternoon dress, featuring bishop sleevesAmazing geometric design and cinnabar ring in the neckline make this dress stand out – note the separate top and skirt appearanceLilac jacquard dress features unusual fluttering details on sleeves, matching the sash and ‘swag’ dropping from the vee neck