Girls didn’t always have this kind of freedom!!

Before World War I, girls were “proper” and “well-behaved” They wore long straight skirts and shirts with high collars Did not date, but waited until a proper young man asked them to marry Were only expected to be wives and mothers and nothing else Were not allowed to vote!

Suffragettes began to fight for women’s rights

Gibson Girls started showing their arms and necks!

After World War I Many young men died in the war, leaving nearly a whole generation of young women without possible husbands. Young girls were not willing to waste their young lives waiting to be married. They became more independent and open-minded and even rebellious. The became FLAPPERS!!

Flappers The term “flapper” originated in England and was used to describe young girls trying to grow and change (like awkward baby birds) into women. F. Scott Fitzgerald, considered one of America’s greatest writers (The Great Gatsby) introduced the term in the U.S. through female characters in his stories, and then he married Zelda, who eventually became the most famous American flapper.

Flappers cut off their hair, painted their faces with rouge, powder, thick black eyeliner, and dark red lipstick, previously only worn by “loose” women. Wore short dresses, showed their arms and legs, and danced all night long. They flirted with other women’s husbands, smoked cigarettes, and drank alcohol (which was illegal, which they carried around on hip flasks

Flappers Short Hair in the 1920s In the 1920s there was a trend for short hair, known as “bobbed hair.” “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” was written in 1920, when the cut was still very new. Flappers

Flappers’ Bobbed Hair

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald had become a fabled couple from a bygone era, the 1920s, which we can glimpse through his works.