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The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a "new breed" of young Women who wore short skirts, Bobbed their hair, listened to what was then considered Unconventional Music and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered "decent" behavior. The flappers were seen as brash in their time for wearing excessive makeup, drinking Hard Liquor , treating sex in a more casual manner, smoking Cigarette s, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms. ORIGINS .]] Flappers had their origins in the period of Liberalism , social and political turbulence, and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of the First World War , as well as the export of African American jazz culture to Europe . In the United States , popular contempt for Prohibition was a factor. With legal saloons and cabarets closed, back alley Speakeasies became prolific and popular. This discrepancy between the law-abiding, religion-based Temperance Movement and the actual ubiquitous consumption of alcohol led to widespread disdain for authority. Flapper independence may have its origins in the Gibson Girl s of the 1890s . Although that pre-war look does not resemble the flapper identity, their independence and feminism may have led to the flapper wise-cracking tenacity 30 years later. The term ''flapper'' first appears in unbuckled so that they could show people their bodies as they walked, the term was already documented as in use in the United Kingdom as early as 1912. From the 1910s into the 1920s, flapper was a term for any impetuous teenage girl, often including women under 30. Only in the 1920s did the term take on the meaning of the flapper generation style and attitudes, while people continued to use the word to mean immature. A related but alternative usage in the late 1920s was a press Catch Word which referred to adult women voters and how they might vote differently than men their age. While the term flapper had multiple usages, flappers as a social group were well defined from other 1920s fads. Writers and artists in the United States such as . BEHAVIOR Flappers went to Jazz Club s at night where they Dance d provocatively, smoked Cigarette s through long holders, sniffed Cocaine and dated. They rode bicycles and drove cars - fast. They drank alcohol openly, a defiant act in the period of Prohibition. Petting ( Physical Intimacy without Sexual Penetration ) became much more common. Some people even threw " Petting Parties " where petting was the main attraction. Flappers also wore "kissproof" lipstick and a lot of heavy makeup with beaded necklaces and bracelets. They liked to cut their hair into "boyish" Bob Cut s, often dyeing it jet-black or peroxiding it blonde. SLANG Flappers had their own ." Many terms still in use in modern American English slang originated as flapper slang, such as "big cheese", meaning an important person; "to bump off", meaning to murder; and "baloney", meaning nonsense. Other terms have become definitive of the Prohibition era, such as "speakeasy", meaning an illegal place to get liquor and "hooch”, describing illegal liquor. DRESS In addition to their irreverent behavior, flappers were known for their style, which largely emerged as a result of the musical style of jazz and the popularization of dancing that accompanied it. Called ''garçonne'' in French ("boy" with a feminine suffix), flapper style made them look young and boyish. The short "bob" haircut became popular, only to be replaced later by the shorter "Eton" or "shingle" which slicked the hair and covered the ears with curls. Flappers did away with their old Corset s and Pantaloons in favor of "step-in" Panties . Without the old restrictive corsets, flappers wore simple bust bodices to make their chest hold still when dancing. They also wore new, more soft and supple corsets that reached to their hips. Instead of the corsets slenderizing the waist and accenting the hips and bust, it smoothed the whole frame giving women a straight up and down appearance. Without the added curves of a corset they promoted their boyish look, and soon early popular bras were sold to flatten and reduce the appearance of the bust. Flapper dresses were straight and loose, leaving the arms bare and dropping the waistline to the hips. Silk or Rayon Stockings were held up by Garters . Skirt s rose to just below the knee by 1927 , allowing flashes of knee to be seen when a flapper danced or walked through a breeze, although the way they danced made any long loose skirt flap up to show their knees. Flappers powdered or put rouge on their knees to show them off when dancing. A round, bell-shaped hat called a Cloche was pulled down low on the head and framed the face. Perhaps most scandalously, flappers also took to wearing obvious make-up, previously restricted to Actresses and Prostitute s. Popular flapper make-up styles made the skin pale, the lips red, and the eyes black-ringed. All of this encouraged the development of shocking dance styles such as the Charleston , the Shimmy , the Bunny Hug and the Black Bottom . Tanned skin became increasingly popular after Coco Chanel donned a tan after spending too much time in the sun on Holiday - it suggested a life of leisure, without the onerous need to work. Woman wanted to look fit, sporty and above all, healthy. Despite all the Scandal flappers generated, their look became fashionable in a toned-down form among even respectable older women. Most significantly, the flappers removed the corset from female fashion and popularized short hair for women. Among the actresses most closely identified with the style were Dorothy Mackaill , Alice White , Bebe Daniels , Billie Dove , Helen Kane , Joan Crawford , Leatrice Joy , Norma Shearer , Laura La Plante , Norma Talmadge , Clara Bow , Louise Brooks , and Colleen Moore . END OF THE FLAPPER ERA Despite its popularity, the flapper lifestyle and look could not survive the Wall Street Crash and the following Great Depression . The high-spirited attitude and hedonism simply could not find a place amid the economic hardships of the 1930s . More specifically, this decade brought out a conservative reaction and a religious revival which set out to eradicate the liberal lifestyles and fashions of the 1920s. In many ways, however, the self-reliant flapper had allowed the modern woman to make herself an integral and lasting part of the Western World . SEE ALSO
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