1920's Flapper Dresses

Wearing a 1920’s style flapper dress never fails to make an entrance. The flapper dress is synonymous with opulence and cheeky sass. Flappers came to define the 1920’s even though they only had a very brief moment in the spotlight.

Flappers we're women who went to jazz clubs at night, wore their hemlines short and their hair shorter. They drove cars, smoked and drank openly, defiant behaviour in the Prohibition era. They flaunted their disdain for what was considered acceptable behaviour of the time.

Alongside their irreverent behaviour flappers were known for their style, which largely emerged due to French fashions, especially those pioneered by Coco Chanel.

The appearance typically associated now with flappers in the 1920’s encompasses drop waists, short hair and a hemline above the knee. However, contrary to popular belief this image didn’t fully emerge until as late as 1926.

The flapper dress is defined as a chemise - a streamlined, simple, straight, tubular dress with a dropped waist. Fabrics and embellishments ranged from lace, beaded chiffon, sequins, velvet, rhinestones and lame to fringing, a 1920’s favourite. Beaded flapper dresses, however, were worn with a slip dress underneath.

Vintage and vintage reproduction flapper dresses are relatively widely available today. However, a general rule is the more immaculate the condition and the greater the intricacy of embellishment on the dress the higher the price tag.

For a variety of vintage and costume reproduction flapper dresses tias.com is a worthwhile port of call. This seller has a particularly good range of vintage flapper dresses within the mid range of the price scale.

Etsy.com is a company and community of sellers and buyers worth checking out as it has a large range of vintage and vintage reproduction flapper dresses available at any given time. The price is also generally pocket friendly ranging from the lower to mid range of the scale.

For vintage reproductions unique-vintage.com stocks an excellent variety of flapper dresses with high quality workmanship. They have a wide variety of flapper dresses from beaded over dresses and fringe dresses to the car wash hem flapper dresses. Their range of flapper dresses falls into the mid price range.

From time to time Antiquedress.com has some stunning vintage flapper dresses often accompanied by the history behind each piece. Flapper dresses from this seller tend to be in the upper range of the price scale.

Vintagetextile.com is also well worth a visit if only to view some exquisite examples of flapper dresses in excellent condition amongst a stunning archive of antique gowns. However, the dresses also come with some equally eye watering price tags to match.

Background Influences --

Flappers have their origins in the period of liberalism, social and political turbulence. The 1920’s heralded women receiving the right to vote in America and as a result women strove to be socially equal as well. The Flapper was born.

Popular dances during the time were the Foxtrot, Tango, the Shimmy and the dance of the 1920’s, the Charleston. Prohibition, introduced in 1920 had a major influence on life during the decade with the emergence of speakeasies.

Art Deco emerged in the 1920’s alongside a feeling of modernism, which became evident in art, architecture and also fashion. The style of art deco is predominantly defined by bold geometric designs which were often echoed in flapper dresses in particular.

With the arrival of the Wall Street crash and the subsequent Great Depression the Flapper’s brief but spectacular existence came to a close although the style still lives on.  


Sartorial Vintage