Style February 9, 2017
The Roaring ’20s was the decade that changed it all for women’s style. In the 1920s, fashion was synonymous with the women’s suffrage movement and trading Victorian values for daring styles of the modern woman. With that transition and liberation came pants, button-up shirts and suits. One could even argue that androgynous styles gained popularity because women wanted to be taken more seriously in the fields of business and labor.
How did 1920s fashion start blurring the lines of masculine and feminine clothing? What impact did fashion have on the rest of society? And where can the 1920s masculine look still be seen in fashion today? To find out the styles and impact of 1920s fashion, ENTITY chatted with Jo Paoletti, fashion historian and American Studies professor at the University of Maryland, and Leon Wu, founder and CEO of gender-neutral fashion brand Sharp Suiting.
Here are four clothing staples that helped bridge the gap between the sexes in the early 1920s, plus expert insight on these styles’ importance and presence in fashion today.
The collared white shirt became a status marker for men in the Victorian period in the late 19th century. It symbolized the uniform for the moral and masculine man that was business-like, but more importantly, accomplished. It wasn’t until the 1920s when dress codes became more casual that women started adopting the straighter lines of men’s apparel. These collared shirts even inspired the creation of a masculine shirt especially designed for women: a “middy,” or a sailor’s shirt given a few feminine touches.
READ MORE: Why Millie Bobbie Brown is Fashion’s New Star
As Jo Paoletti explains, “The shift in gender expression in fashion in the 1920s for adults definitely tilted more in the direction of more masculine elements for women…[however,] the term ‘unisex’ wasn’t coined until the 1960s.” The white collared shirt illustrates quite well how “unisex” clothing starts to appear in the 1920s, but gains even more traction – or even legitimacy – in later decades.
In fact, the white collared shirt became increasingly popular in the 1940s and 50s when Lauren Bacall wore the same white button-down as her co-star, Humphrey Bogart. This trend was also seen on Hollywood stars like Audrey Hepburn in 1956, Ava Gardner in 1960 and Marilyn Monroe in 1961. No longer recognized as a man’s article of apparel, the collared white shirt had – and still has – become a staple in every woman’s closet.
Coco Chanel was the revolutionary female that changed everything about women’s clothing. In the early 1920s, she designed the classic “Chanel suit,” which was based on traditionally masculine apparel. This was the first suit designed for women, and it and opened the door for women to add male silhouettes to their wardrobe – and wear them in the workplace. In fact, some even argue that this suit helped motivate women to continue chasing their professional dreams and retain their independence after World War I ended.
READ MORE: Why We Need Feminism in Fashion
According to Leon Wu, this feeling of empowerment is still one of the main reasons female suits are so popular today. “At Sharpe, our finely tailored style is focused on gender equality through giving people the chance to genuinely live as themselves with the help of our clothing,” he explains. (Leon originally designed masculine clothing for masculine women like herself, but now identifies as a transgender man.) “Suits and similarly tailored clothing are an ideal garment to celebrate important moments and live the most impactful version of yourself.”
In the 1920s, women had just received the right to vote (as of 1920) but were still fighting for other rights like equal pay and access to education. Nowadays, the various recent women’s marches show that there is still work to be done for gender equality. And, in both eras and cases, empowering female suits may play a role in the gender equality movement.
You’ve probably heard Neil Armstrong’s (allegedly misquoted) phrase: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Of course, women wearing Oxford shoes didn’t walk on the moon, but this fashion trend was a step forward for gender equality.
The Oxford shoe’s popularity dates back to the 1600s in Europe, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that women began sporting then as casual footwear. While men continued to wear the Oxford shoe for fancier occasions, women adopted them as a more casual addition to their wardrobe. Finally, a comfortable shoe to wear while playing sports or dancing the night away!
READ MORE: Wear These Shoes Proudly: The Social Stigma of Big Feet
According to Jo Paoletti, “A trend toward simpler, more tailored styles which may have been seen at the time as ‘modern’ as much as ‘mannish.'” This idea can especially be seen in figures like the historical aviator Amelia Earhart, who was often pictured in Oxford shoes.
Today, Wu says Sharp Suiting “is not a standardized look or style; it’s more of a social attribute.” Similarly, in the 1920s, women weren’t necessarily trying to look masculine with their new styles; they were just moving into the future where practicality, personal expression and female empowerment were priorities in women’s fashion.
As odd as this might sound, pants were not always considered women’s articles of clothing. Wearing pants during the Victorian period was a very radical idea, even resulting social and public ostracism. By the early 1900s, wearing pants was still seen as controversial. A few exceptions were, by the mid 1920s, wearing “knickers” (voluminous knee-length wool pants) during sports or “bloomers” as school girl uniforms. Of course, daring women like Amelia Earhart and Coco Chanel also wore trousers years before they were common.
Once the 1930s rolled in, pants became a more accepted part of female style. Just picture elegant women like Audrey Hepburn or even Zelda Fitzgerald!
Pants are just one of the examples of fashion’s “unsettling” changes, with Jo Paoletti pointing out: “By the 1940s and 50s, the 1920s were being depicted in popular culture as the depraved, free-wheeling, immoral ‘roaring twenties.’ While some segments of society welcome changes to conventional mores, others found the trends threatening and disturbing.”
READ MORE: What You Don’t Know About Fashion Icon and Humanitarian Audrey Hepburn
Today, you may not think twice before sliding into your favorite pair of skinny jeans, but for the thousands of women who came before you, pants were anything but simple.
The 1920s marked one of the first times women began to explore masculine elements of fashion and expand their style boundaries. Suddenly suits, Oxford shoes and collared t-shirts weren’t just for men – and women learned how they could personalize these styles to make them their own.
Yet, these styles didn’t emerge and die in the 1920s. In fact, they still remain popular today. Why? One of the biggest reasons may be that their symbolism is still relevant to the modern woman. “We are still fighting for women’s rights and that elusive gender equality,” says Wu. “[As for clothes,] the trend today is you, and you in your most authentic form.”
READ MORE: 2016: The Year in Fashion
And this trend – of freedom, of personalization and of adopting a style that reflects your true self – is probably a goal with which every woman, from the 1920s or 2017, can relate.
