1920s Flapper Silhouette

The silhouette of the 1920s was a deliberate break with everything before it. After a century in which women's clothes shaped the body into a curve, defining the waist and emphasising the bust and hips, fashionable dress in the 1920s went straight: a loose, tubular line from shoulder to hip, a waistline dropped to the hips, a flattened bust, and, for the first time in Western fashion, hems that showed the legs. The image is the "flapper": young, active, bobbed hair, dancing.

How the shape changed through the decade

The 1920s didn't arrive fully formed. FIT's timeline shows a gradual shift:

• Early 1920s: waistlines dropping toward the hips, hems still around mid-calf or lower, and a loose, straight, sometimes slightly barrel-shaped line.
• Mid-decade: waistlines at their lowest (around 1923-25), and hems rising quickly.
• 1926-27: hems at their shortest, around the knee, with the straight, boyish garçonne line at its most extreme.
• 1928-29: waistlines beginning to rise back toward natural position, and hemlines dipping again, often with uneven handkerchief or dipped hems longer at the back or sides. These pointed toward the longer, curvier 1930s.

Evening dresses followed day dresses in some years and stayed long in others.

The designers

• Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel popularised the tubular, uncomplicated line, comfortable jersey (a fabric previously used for underwear), and simple dresses including the little black dress.
• Jeanne Lanvin offered the alternative: the romantic robe de style, with a fitted, dropped-waist bodice over a full skirt supported by small hoops or petticoats.
• Jean Patou brought sportswear into fashion, including the tennis dress worn by Suzanne Lenglen.
• Madeleine Vionnet was already developing the bias cutting that would define the 1930s. See Notable Figures.

Fabrics and surface decoration

Because the cut was so simple, the decoration did the work. Evening dresses were heavily embellished with beads, sequins, embroidery and fringe, often on silk chiffon or georgette (see Silk Chiffon), so they caught the light and swung when the wearer danced. Day dresses used silk crepe, wool jersey and printed cottons. Rayon, then called "artificial silk", made a silky look affordable. See Synthetic Fibers.

Underwear changed first

The straight silhouette needed new foundations. Corsets were replaced by lighter elasticated girdles and corselets that smoothed the hips, and by bandeau-style bras that flattened rather than lifted the bust. Many women also pursued the fashionable flat figure through diet and exercise. See Evolution of Undergarments.

A decade for home sewing

Simple cuts and new, affordable fabrics put fashionable clothes within reach of women sewing at home, and FIT describes the decade as a "democratization of fashion". A typical day dress could be made from a few rectangles of fabric with minimal fitting, and pattern companies sold the latest styles widely.

How a 1920s dress is constructed

Many 1920s dresses are strikingly simple:

• Rectangles and near-rectangles. The body is often two or four straight panels, sometimes with a slight A-line flare, joined at the shoulders and sides, with a neckline and armholes cut out.
• Few or no darts, because the dress isn't meant to follow the waist. Fullness at the hip is often added with godets (triangular inserts), pleats, gathers or tiers below a dropped waist seam or sash.
• Closures were minimal. Many dresses simply slip over the head. Others close with snaps or hooks along a side seam placket. Zippers weren't yet common in dresses.
• Finishes were hand-sewn: narrow hems, French seams on fine fabrics, and bias-bound necklines.

Sewing a reproduction

1. Fit the bust and hip, not the waist. The dress should hang straight from the bust or shoulders, with enough ease at the hip to move and dance. A dress that's too tight at the hip loses the straight line.
2. Find the right dropped waist. The seam or sash sits at the top of the hips, not the natural waist.
3. Allow for the weight of beading. Heavily beaded chiffon is heavy and stretches. Bead a separate overlay or panels, and mount them on a firm silk or rayon underdress or slip, so the weight hangs from strong shoulder seams. Many surviving originals are damaged where the beads pulled the fabric apart.
4. Use the right fabrics: silk or rayon crepe, georgette, chiffon, velvet, or light wool for day. Avoid stiff cottons, which make the straight line look boxy.
5. Finish by hand where it shows. Narrow hand-rolled hems and French seams suit the light fabrics.

A simple 1920s day dress, with a dropped waist, slight A-line flare and a sash, makes a good beginner project, because it needs almost no fitting.