The Flapper Girl

Flapper Girls doing the Charleston

Flapper girl fashion dates back to the 20s-30s, when young ladies rebelled against the times and completely revolutionised fashion. They cropped their long hair into short bobs, styled with the finger wave, swapped fitted dresses for loose and wore red lipstick with kohl eyeliner.
The 20s decade was notorious for the art deco movement which engulfed architecture, furniture and interior design as well as fashion and beauty. Accessories worn by an middle/upper-class lady were typically art deco designs of geometrics in silver, diamonds and ebony. 1920's clothing was also under the category of art deco, with bead stitching on some fashionable dresses falling in geometric shapes. However, the decorative influence of art nouveau, only a few decades earlier, still took effect on accessories such as the peacock feather headband and the feather boa.

'Flapper Girl' by myself. Watermark: Finnish-Penguin at DeviantArt.

I painted this a few years ago, on canvas, using little photographic reference (which explains some of the flaws and misshaped hands!). I've always been really interested and fascinated by this era and find flapper girls to define beauty and glamour. I tried to capture the era through her outfit, make-up and the colours used. This is currently hanging in my hallway but I intend to go back and edit it; repainting areas and tidying things up.

Men

Michael Jackson (center) on the set of short film for 'Smooth Criminal', in which he plays a 1930's gangster.

In the 1920s-30s, men still typically wore smart clothing, especially in the streets or at social events.
A sight to imagine is of an old-fashioned gangster - that would typically portray a standard middle-class man in the 1920s, minus the gangster title.
Men wore trilby or fedora hats, ties, blazer jackets, high-waisted trousers, braces and brogues - all either pinstriped or plain. The image above depicts typical 20's-30's male attire, modelled on Michael Jackson and his dancers and inspired by the outfits worn by Fred Astaire.