Dissecting the 1920s "Flapper" (Dressed Classic)

Summary

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Dressed: The History of Fashion

Episode: Dissecting the 1920s "Flapper" (Dressed Classic)
Hosts: April Callahan & Cassidy Zachary
Date: May 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

This Dressed Classic dives into the cultural and sartorial evolution of the iconic 1920s "flapper." Hosts April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary “dissect” the flapper archetype from bobbed hair to dancing feet, exploring how this emblem of the Roaring Twenties emerged, what really defined her (hint: it’s not just about fashion), and how she embodied a modern rebellion of youthful independence, confidence, and fun.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Myths of the ‘Flapper’ Term

[01:41-04:05]

• While the "flapper" is often seen as a 1920s product, the term’s history is much older.
• Etymology Debunked:
  • Popular rumor says "flapper" originated with unfastened, flapping boots of the '20s, but the word traces back to 16th-century British slang referring to young women, and later to girls in their awkward, adolescent phase.
• Notable Quote:

  “Despite this potent imagery, the word has its origins in 16th century British slang...indicated a young female prostitute…by the 19th century, the term had lost most of its lewd connotations.”
  — April Callahan quoting historian Claire Sorrow [02:48]

• Even by 1915, “flapper” described awkward teenage girls, not glamorous icons.

2. Flapper: From Awkward Teen to Jazz Age Rebel

[04:05-07:02]

• Early-20th-century articles and advertisements began targeting “flappers”—young teens—as a new consumer market.
  • Harper’s Bazaar (1915): designers are focusing on the “awkward age.”
  • New York Times (1917): flappers as “girls of the awkward age.”
• It wasn’t until after World War I that the term's meaning shifted from awkward youth to “fun loving, independent” young women rebelling against social norms.
  • The new “flapper” was confident, defiant, and willing to scandalize society through fashion and behavior (short skirts, bobbed hair, jazz dancing).

3. WWI and Women’s Liberation as Catalysts

[07:02-08:53]

• The war (and subsequent suffrage movement) dramatically altered women's roles.
  • “Nothing happens in a vacuum,” Cassidy notes; with men at war, women entered the workforce, gained political power (U.S. women’s suffrage in 1920), and discovered new freedoms.
• Notable Quote:

  “Women were just suddenly experiencing this newfound freedom and power that they just had not had before.”
  — Cassidy Zachary [08:09]

4. Flapper Style: Dissected Piece by Piece

[13:25-19:01]

• Inspired by a 1922 Arizona Prescott Journal article that itemized the “typical flapper’s” outfit in 13 numbered parts; hosts walk listeners through each:
  1. Hat—Soft silk/felt hat (pre-cloche era).
  2. Bobbed Hair—A stark break from tradition (previously, unpinned hair was for girls or “fallen” women).

     “This new modern woman, well, she didn’t have time for such frivolities.”
     — April Callahan [15:19]

  3. Flapper Curl—Single curl peeking from the hat.
  4. Flapper Collar—A simple flat collar.
  5. Flapper Earrings—Dangling, large to highlight short hair.
  6. Slipover Sweater—Relaxed, unfussy knitwear popularized by Chanel and Patou.
  7. Flapper Beads—Long necklaces worn to the lowered waist.
  8. Metallic Belt—Belt worn at the drop waist (not natural waist).
  9. Jet Bracelet
  10. Knee-length Fringe Skirt—Shortest in history at the time, caused scandal.
  11. Exposed Knees—Sometimes even “rouged” for extra shock value.
  12. Rolled Hose with Garter—Partially revealed, sometimes skipped altogether.
      • Practical reason: help keep stockings up while dancing.
  13. Flat-heeled Little Girl Sandals—Emphasized youthfulness.
• Tone Note: Both hosts bring a playful, irreverent energy, joking about the “outsider’s perspective” of period news coverage.

5. The Flapper’s Lasting Legacy

[19:01-19:41]

• The flapper is as much attitude as appearance—unapologetically confident, fun-loving, and independent.

  “That the flapper remains synonymous with the 1920s speaks to our ongoing fascination with an exciting era bookended by a devastating war and the great depression.”
  — Cassidy Zachary [19:01] “May you embrace your inner flapper next time you get dressed.”
  — April Callahan [19:41]

• Discussion of how the archetype continues to inspire nearly a century later.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On shifting definitions:

  “Awkward and flapper are just not two words I would normally equate with one another.”
  — Cassidy Zachary [05:03]

• On rebellion:

  “She sounds like, super fun. I want to hang out with her.”
  — April Callahan, on the ‘scandalous’ flapper image [07:02]

• On knees as scandal:

  “Today, knee length hardly seems revealing to us, but in 1922, it was the shortest skirt had ever been in history.”
  — April Callahan [17:10]

• On legacy:

  “The flapper was defined as much by her attitude and her lifestyle as by her dress…”
  — April Callahan [18:55]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:41] Episode theme introduction – defining the flapper
• [02:48] Historical origins of “flapper” with Claire Sorrow quote
• [04:05] Shift from awkward teen to fashion icon
• [07:02] Impact of WWI and women’s suffrage
• [13:25] The 13-point breakdown of a flapper’s style
• [17:10] The risqué scandal of bare knees and rolled hose
• [19:01] The enduring fascination with the flapper archetype
• [19:41] Farewell and encouragement to embrace the “inner flapper”

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Summary Takeaway

This episode goes beyond the cliché image of the 1920s party girl to reveal the layered history and bold cultural statements behind the flapper. Through lively banter, rich primary-sourced material, and a piece-by-piece “dissection,” Dressed demonstrates how flapper fashion emerged from, and catalyzed, seismic changes in women’s lives—resonating with admirers of rebellion, liberation, and joy to this day.

Transcript

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[Cassidy Zachary]

With over 7 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common. Every day, we all get dressed.

[April Callahan]

Welcome to Dressed the History of Fashion, a podcast where we explore the who, what, when of why we wear. We are fashion historians and your hosts, April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary.

[Cassidy Zachary]

While Halloween was just yesterday and on the heels of our Fashion that Kills episode, April and I wanted to cover another decidedly morbid topic. In fact, we thought it would be fun to dissect the flapper.

[April Callahan]

Well, I mean, not literally of course, but it is going to be fun to take apart this iconic 1920s lady apart piece by piece from the top of her bobbed head of hair all the way down to her dancing feet. But first, what exactly is a flapper and where did she come from? You might think you know the answer to this, but what we have to share with you today may just surprise you, right?

[Cassidy Zachary]

Because the so called flapper is most often characterized as the 1920s phenomenon representative of a new type of fashion forward free spirited, modern young woman that emerged in the post World War I era. And to this day she really embodies the zeitgeist and excitement of the Roaring twenties, an era that's defined by this unbridled pursuit of an indulgence in entertainment and extravagance.

[April Callahan]

However, despite popular opinion, Cass, the term did not originate in the 1930s 20s, although some narratives will tell you that it came from the 1920s as a fashion trend for unfastened rubber boots that quote unquote flapped when the wearers walked. This is actually not the case and we're going to quote one of our favorite fashion historians, Claire Sorrow she once wrote about the flapper saying, quote, despite this potent imagery, the word has its origins in 16th century British slang. Deriving from the colloquial flap. The word indicated a young female prostitute and likely referred to the awkward flapping of a young bird's wings when learning to fly. Claire goes on to assure us that, quote, by the 19th century, the term had lost most of its lewd connotations.

[Cassidy Zachary]

So to find out exactly when the term gained its contemporary associations with the Jazz Age poster girl, we naturally started sleuthing in the online archives. It's what we do best on dressed. And I found one answer in the form of a Harper's Bazaar article entitled Dressing the Flapper, which reads, quote, the awkward age has long been the despair of mothers who wish to dress their girls becomingly. Today, the designers are paying special attention to the flapper.

[April Callahan]

Wait, what? That's not exactly describing our, you know, fun loving it girl of the 1920s, now, is it awkward?

[Cassidy Zachary]

No. And actually that article dates to 1915, and at this point, that term, flapper, while it refers more to a teenager or even a preteen, you know, the girl that embodies that Britney Spears song, I'm not a girl.

[April Callahan]

Oh, no, not yet a woman.

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[April Callahan]

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[Cassidy Zachary]

I could go on, but I, I'll. I will.

[April Callahan]

Well, you said that article was from 1915. And if we're going to judge by the huge spike in advertisements and articles from around World War I, 1915 to 1919, that are suddenly addressing the clothing needs of these young flappers. Clothing manufacturers and designers had discovered that there was money to be made in what was then an entirely untapped market,

[Cassidy Zachary]

wrote the New York Times in 1917. It is a long time since the spirit of youth has been any better depicted than in the garments for Mrs. And juniors that are now being shown in the market. Garments for the quote, unquote flapper, which is the title given to young girls of the awkward age. There it is again, that word awkward. Awkward and flapper are just not two words I would normally equate with one another.

[April Callahan]

No, you usually think of extreme elegance. So when did, quote, unquote, flappers make the transition from awkward preteen girls to free spirited fashion icons? And why? Well, one answer might lie in a 1919 Women's Wear Daily article. This article expressly defines the flapper as a girl aged 12 to 16 years of age and even illustrates her for you. We see in this article four stylish young flappers being depicted. They're smiling, they're Carrying on with their fashionably dressed mothers in tow. But CA plus, these young flappers all wear dresses that barely skim their knees. And two of them, well, they have even short bobbed hair. Aha.

[Cassidy Zachary]

That is two characteristic 1920s flapper traits. And in 1919, no less. In fact, just one month prior, the same magazine had declared flappers receiving more attention than ever before. Indeed, these junior flappers were becoming a pervasive reality of the clothing industry. And it was really only a matter of time before someone would ascribe this term also to the modern woman who emerged in the post World War I era. I mean, she was wearing the same short skirts and bobbed hair, after all. But this is really where the similarities between the two end. Because this new woman was no longer a girl dependent on her mother to pick her clothing. And far from awkward, she was fun loving, she was independent. And she was ready to throw tradition and moral turpitude to the wind and a flare of fringe feathers and shocking dance moves.

[April Callahan]

Oh, yes, and quote, unspeakable jazz must go. Read the headline of one particular 1921 article in Ladies Home Journal which goes on to say, it is worse than saloon and scarlet vice. Testify professional dance experts. Only a few cities are curbing evil. Jazz being the evil here, of course. But a flapper American jazz burst onto the post World War I era like a torpedo. And it was really a death knell for any of these staid old practices of a bygone era. It was fast paced, it was exciting, and to many people, it was downright terrifying because it inspired racy dance moves that shocked polite taste. Quote, the high society flapper is still going the limit. Continues the article. She drinks, she swears, she smokes, toddles and chatters stories that once belong to the men's smoke room. You can't reform a society flapper. And Cass, I mean, who would want to? She sounds like, super fun. I want to hang out with her.

[Cassidy Zachary]

I know. Absolutely. And you know, a lot happened in the 1910s to facilitate the emergence of this new type of woman. Nothing happens in a vacuum. World War I lasted from 1914 to 1918, and with so many young men around the world called to service, women entered the workforce en masse. Not to mention that in America, women were also marching for the right to vote, which they earned with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. And if you think about how the miniskirt of the 1960s emerged in tandem with the birth control pill, well, women were just suddenly experiencing this newfound freedom and power that they just had not had before.

[April Callahan]

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[April Callahan]

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[April Callahan]

It's also worth noting that clothing was modernized Pre World War I, as we have discussed in our Birth of the Modern Episode. So some women were getting rid of their corsets. Skirts were already beginning to become shorter in 1914. I mean, the professional dancer Irene Castle, she bobbed her hair in 1915. So time was ripe for change. And in the devastating aftermath of the war, the world had changed and so too had women.

[Cassidy Zachary]

By 1922, this new breed of young, free spirited women had co opted the flapper term away from their junior counterparts. As made clear in this 1922 New York Times article, the differences between the two were actually night and day. The junior flapper quote had none of the assurance, none of the independence, none of the defiance of social laws, none of the freedom with those of the opposite sex, none of the scorn for parental advice, none of the derision for respectability, none of the daring and dressing us, none of the imperviousness to criticism which has made the American flapper a byword. Mm.

[April Callahan]

And so pervasive an archetype. Had the flapper become both as a point of intrigue and also controversy, that the Arizona Prescott Journal felt the need to break down the flapper for its readership or flapper style, I should really say, on the very front page. In fact, this particular article, which is from August 1922, this is the one that inspired this episode today. So there is a photograph of a quote unquote flapper, and each piece of her outfit is literally numbered and described. So shall we, Cass.

[Cassidy Zachary]

We shall. Under the title Typical Flappers Reads, you've often heard them called that, but did you ever really understand what it meant? This will straighten you out. It's a picture of a flapper 100% from head to foot. April, according to this newspaper, which I am just going to say that it might not be the most reliable source of up to date fashion information,

[April Callahan]

the Arizona Prescott Journal was not the end. All be all.

[Cassidy Zachary]

The flapper has 13 qualifications. So the first of which is her hat of soft silk or felt. And while this hat featured here is small, it is not the ubiquitous cloche hat we associate with 1920s fashion. However, 1922 was the year that the cloche emerged as the fashion staple of a woman's wardrobe, but not one yet adopted by this particular flapper.

[April Callahan]

And number two would of course, be the bobbed hair. And definitely one of the most abrupt breaks from the past which the new modern women had adopted. As we previously mentioned, celebrities such as Irene Castle had bobbed their hair in years prior. But for centuries before that, a woman's long locks were synonymous with her respectability. And only young girls and teenagers could really get away with wearing their hair down. Older women were expected to wear their hair up. And for many, this was a burden, something that had to be given much time and much care every single day. And this new modern woman, well, she didn't have time for such frivolities.

[Cassidy Zachary]

No, she did not. She had a lot of dancing to do.

[April Callahan]

That's right.

[Cassidy Zachary]

The article follows bobbed hair with a series of seemingly ordinary clothing items, other than the fact that that quote unquote flapper has been inserted in front of them. So number three is the flapper curl, which is on the forehead. It's a small curl peeking out from beneath the hat, the hat's brim on the woman's forehead. Number four is the flapper collar, which is to me just a normal flat collar. And number five, flapper earrings. These are dangly earrings, quite large and long, and they really are made all the more noticeable by her short hair.

[April Callahan]

And I. I'm gonna have to agree with what you said earlier, Cass, and reiterate. This is clearly an outsider's view of a flapper. The author of this article is almost treating this archetypal woman as a foreign or scientific oddity to be studied or in our case, dissected. But moving on to number six, A slip over sweater knitwear was certainly a staple of the modern woman's wardrobe at this time. You know, something pioneered by fashion designers such as Coco Chanel and Jean Patou. And it was, it Was very relaxed. It was more com. And women were wearing it more and

[Cassidy Zachary]

more unadorned and unfussy. This particular sweater was the perfect blank canvas for number seven, flapper beads. In other words, a long necklace that extends to the waist where it meets number eight, a metallic belt. And this is situated not at the wearer's natural waist, of course, but at a lowered waistline that would only continue to lower and drop throughout the decade, sometimes disappearing altogether in the boxy shift dress that that is synonymous with this era.

[April Callahan]

Number nine, a bracelet of strung jet. Number ten, a knee length fringe skirt. And, ah, yes, one of the most controversial elements of the flapper wardrobe was the short skirt. Today, knee length hardly seems revealing to us, but in 1922, it was the shortest skirt had ever been in history. And if that wasn't shocking Enough, Cass, number 11 were the exposed bare knees. I mean, talk about thwarting convention. And for extra emphasis, flappers were even rumored to rouge their knees.

[Cassidy Zachary]

But not to worry, this flapper's legs weren't entirely exposed because number 12 is rolled hose with a fancy garter. Although to show your garter must have been incredibly shocking. This is underwear being worn as outerwear. But the most daring of flappers, well, they would have done away with stockings entirely.

[April Callahan]

And one of the reasons, just so you know, for the rolled stockings, was because when they were dancing, they would fall down. So they would just go ahead and roll them down and attach their garter with them like that beforehand, so it became part of their style. And that really kind of takes us to the end of our dissection cast. We're going to end with number 13, the flat heeled little girl sandals. And not something we might typically associate with the flapper stereotyp today, but something that certainly emphasized the perceived youthfulness of the flapper appearance. I have to say, Cass, that was super fun. Even if that article might not have given us the entire picture. A flapper was defined as much by her attitude and her lifestyle as by her dress, but it still gives us a pretty good idea of the intrigue surrounding this type of young woman that broke the mold.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Yeah, and it's an entry that obviously continues to fascinate us to this day. That the flapper remains synonymous with the 1920s speaks to our ongoing fascination with an exciting era bookended by a devastating war and the great depression. And the flapper, well, she was very much a woman of her time, and yet she still resonates with us almost 100 years later, a fact that speaks not only to her aesthetic appeal, but to the continued admiration for women who threw their cares to the wind and embraced what it meant to be unapologetically confident, fun loving and independent. Which is a lesson I think we can all appreciate today.

[April Callahan]

Yes, I certainly do. And that does it for us today. Dress listeners, until next time, may you embrace your inner flapper. Next time you get dressed,

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make sure you're signed up for our newsletter. If you're not already, head to our [e-mail] sign up for that newsletter where April and I once a month share your things from April's armoire and Cassidy's closet, things we're working on behind the scenes, interesting research we're doing or objects we're studying. But that's also where you become the first to know about our online classes and in person tours. And that includes my what Women Wore to the Revolution 1850s-1920s live online course coming your way in June and then also our seven Day Fashion History Fueled Adventure in the World Fashion Capital of Paris coming your way August 30th through September 6th.

[Tour Organizer/Host]

Some of you have already signed up, but we do still have more slots and we are very excited. I will be there now on more or less a permanent basis. I have new Parisian treasures up my sleeve for this year's tour.

[April Callahan]

So yeah, again you can head over

[Tour Organizer/Host]

to dresshistory.com to look at that full itinerary and we'll be up to this year starting August 30th and then into

[April Callahan]

the very first week of September.

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And we get so many questions from all of you about our recommendations for fashion history books. So if you're interested you can always find a link in our show Notes to our Bookshop Bookshelf. So that address is bookshop.org shop dressed and there you can find over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles.

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