A clash of cultures
What I found most interesting in chapter 23, pages 864. It is the real revolution of women mode of dressing. They portrayed a rebellious attitude to the old traditional roles of women in a potent version. These ladies in their twenties went to the extent of discarding the wardrobes of their mother’s generation, which consisted of pinched layers of petticoats and floor length dresses. In 1919 skirts were only six inches from the ground but in 1927, they had reduced to knee length. These young women were regarded as flappers, as they were pleasure seekers. They drove automobiles, cut their hair short which ended up in leading to the invention of the bobby pin. They wore few undergarments, a lot of makeups, dangling necklaces and sheer stockings and in most instances; joined the young men on the dance floors, cigarette smoking, drinking and dancing to Jazz music. This new generation demanded more than being in marriage and motherhood, they requested for a more carefree world which was fun loving.
It becomes more interesting when a long-time activist Lillian Symes stressed out that even the women in the 1920s still wore high heel shoes, and so this form new feminist was not unique. She stated that the reason why her generation was more of conservative was that, they felt that it assisted to steer the women who had persistently fought the war back into their traditional roles of being regarded as homemakers. Some schools had already started teaching courses such as husband and wife, the family as an economic unit and also motherhood.
In the 1920s, most women who worked as home laborers in unskilled, low salary jobs, and only 4% of them received payments as professionals. Some were forced to relocate to other places so as to look for better employment opportunities that had been developed by the growing consumer culture. These consumers had begun to look for more professional medical facilities and other services such as accountants’ assistants and the departmental store clerks. Also, it is significant that the number of beauty shops had developed to several 5,000 in 1992 to 40,000 during the 1930s — this created job opportunities for hairdressers, and manicurists.
My most exciting person during these changes is Lillian Symes. Reason being she stood up to defend the new women’s need for feminist change, that had occurred arguing that even the older generation still had these transformations apart from the fact that they were conservative. She also supported the idea that women are also human beings with needs and should be allowed to do all activities such as voting, pursuing education, and getting involved in social activities. Women were not supposed to choose between pursuing their career or homes while in the same case, men were allowed to keep both. The 1927s women trend of clothing is still significant to today’s world as women are still wearing short dresses, some even above knee- length. Application of makeup is not new to the modern world as the cosmetics industry has also been set up to offer a variety of products. This essential time is essential as were it not reflected on; there could be some missing links. Thus it completes the trend.
Work Cited
Brian Fagan A Clash of cultures 1920-1929