- hello?
- hi, how are you? - hi.. - i was thinking
if you could help me, cause i have this like..
1920s..
uh..
themed party that i'm going to
and i have like literally no idea what to wear.. uh..
and because you're such an expert i was thinking you could maybe help me
- yeah, sure, yeah
- so basically i have this like.. um..
little black dress- - NOOOOO
- s.. sorry??
- yeah.. uh.. sorry, go on
- yeah, so i was saying i have this little black dress
that's like, um
it's kind of like strapless- - NOOOOOOOO
OOO
- ... are you ok?..
- no, uh, yeah, that was my.. my sister..
uh-h.. get out, i'm on my phone, stop it!..
yeah, go on, sorry
- so, it's strapless and it has like, um
like, fringe all over it-
- NOOOOOO
that.. that was my sister again!. um... - oh!
oh, ok, um..
and it's kind of..
it's kind of like a mini dress. it, like, it reaches
my, like, half of my thighs.
so, i was thinking i would wear that, and then i
also have like stilettos
yeah.. i'll probably just wear that. and then, i was thinking
in terms of like accessories, i was thinking, like
um, a string of pearls and maybe like
'cause i don't really have a hat but.. but..
but i was thinking like, um.. you know, a piece of lace
on my forehead, and then like one single
like feather.. do you think that'll..
that'll work? would that be ok?
- ....... hello?....
Hi how are you ? I'm good
just.. answered my own question..
what is that? oh, oh, you like that? oh, thank you, that's my new
pin, that i've designed myself, i'm gonna show you
check this out
check. this. out
it's 18th century swag pin, that you can
get on Etsyyyyy 20 of those are
already sold, i'm gonna..
u know..
just go and get one. 'cause i designed them
back to the original topic of this sad video
1920s! 1920s
is definetly one of the most stereotyped
decades i have ever.. witnessed..
i have not witnessed 1920's, what am i talking about..
and what's sad is because we all think
we know what 1920s was and how people dressed
and what they looked like, we
don't really feel like getting to know more about it
and it's so much more than what we think it is
i don't even know where to start, um.. i used to be
one of those people, i used to be like "1920s? ok,
short dresses, frills, headbands
feathers, black gloves
pearls, black dresses
heels.. is that alright?"
aand, it wasn't untill i got more
into fashion history, that i realized
it wasn't like that
in the first place, and also that it didn't happen right
after Belle Époque, 'cause i used to be like "ok,
so, they wore the long dresses, and then
it was like POP
short dresses!" as..
you know.. as i was more interested in fashion history
i discovered that nothing in fashion history
happens
at once
it's all gradual.. doesn't matter whether
that's.. crinolines to bustle dresses
or bustle dresses to Belle Époque
it's always gradual, it always takes years
for a single silhouette to kind of go through
so, when it comes to 1920s, it all happened
because of what happened before that, which is
you, know from 1908 actually, women's
silhouette and style of dressing
kind of started to become more simple, and people were kind of like
"wait, so we can make women's fashion
comfortable at the same time?" and because of
war
obviously, people started noticing that
women might actually need
dresses that they're able to move in
and, maybe it's not the best idea to have
you know, a 1 meter
diameter hat.. so 1920s
kind of the effect of that way of thinking, and also from
around like 1908, when Paul Perret
kind of started pursuing this new
way of thinking, which was "fashion
could be art", and they were kind of like "wait,
we could treat fashion as art and in that way we could be
more creative with our choices, and stuff"
and, i think, all this combined, made 1920s
i think, the way we see 1920s today
is the result of us not really understanding
previous fashions and not really understanding
how big of a change that was, 'cause
when we hear "in 1920s
the dresses were much shorter", we
as modern people, imagine "ok
so, they must've been really short, if that made such an impact"
and we don't really see, how big of a difference would
let's say, 10 cm make,
if it comes to showing your calves for the first time
and the same goes for using makeup
where we're like "ok, so if they were so shocked
by the 1920s makeup, then that must mean
that they used a shitload of makeup", and that's not true, because
you have to remember what was happening before, and before that
you had to use makeup in a way that no one
could ever tell you're wearing makeup, so
in that case, it comes to something as small as, let's say
accentuating your eyebrows for people to go like "CRAP
THAT'S SHOKING", and, i think, if we keep in mind
that specific mindset,
it's so much easier for us to understand what 1920s
really was, and what it was, well, let me tell you that
so, basically, "the short dresses".. the dresses
up untill the mid 1920s
were reaching to around..
mid-calf?.. my cat is.. probably
urinating.. can you
keep it down?
no, he did not listen to me..
um, and that was considered shokingly short
because before that, before the war
something as simple as showing your ankle was a huge thing,
and they were kind of like "WOW", and then, around 1925
the dresses started getting even shorter
and they, in 1927 they were, like, the shortest
shockingly short, which meant they barely covered the knees
but, if you're thinking about 1920s fashion
as the one, that kind of
LIBERATED the knees, then, boy, you are wrong, because
the knees were not shown in fashion untill..
1960s, actually.. obviously, when it comes to
day dresses, when it comes to, idk, shorts or..
swimwear, it's a completely different story, but
when it comes to mainstream fashion,
day to day fashion, they were not shown in 1920's at all
and the reason we think they were is because
when the skirts barely covered the knee,
obviously, when you sat down with your legs crossed
or when you were stepping up..
idk, into a vehicle, or something
the knees would show, obviously, because the skirt would go up
a bit
but, if you were just standing, like
doing nothing, the knees would always have to be covered, and
obviously, when you look at photographs, and like
what people actually wore, the knees are sometimes shown
but i think that's because they often wore clothes
that they got from someone, or clothes that were not
exactly fitted for them, so
i think, that's why on some photographs
knees show
but it definitely wasn't common back then
but it is true that it was the shortest
that dresses have been in a long time, probably ever
in fashion history, so, that's why we keep
thinking they got to real extremes, whereas
actually, they only showed the calves
most of the time, and the reason we think that way is also because of
the way it's been depicted in
the movies afterwards, so whenever something was set
in 1920s, the costume designers would usually put
a huge
accent on the legs
but, because the modern audiences are kind of used to seeing calves
they would have to make the dresses really short
to make people see the legs the way
the 1920s people saw the legs, so do not trust
movies! and also if you see drawings from the era
depicting women's knees,
like, if you see drawings where you can see
women's knees, that's because the proportions are
all over the place, and if you see photographs
where someone is deliberately
showing their knees, probably an erotic photograph,
so you should be ashamed of yourself
so, that's about the length, when it comes
to the makeup,
it's the same thing again - it was shoking
for 1920s people
because before that
you wouldn't normally see people wearing
visible makeup
on the streets, but when it comes to us seeing
1920s makeup
it's not that crazy, it's mostly about the blush
it's mostly about the plucked eyebrows, which
also is kind of the reason why
the visible makeup was more acceptable, because, obviously,
when you pluck your eyebrows and they're king of light
you wouldn't be able to really see them, so
in order to achieve the fashionable shape, you would
need to accentuate them in some way. you also might do your
eyelashes, darken them a bit, and some eyeshadow, but
it honestly wouldn't be too
dark, even for nighttime
makeup.. also the reason we tend to think
that 1920s makeup was like really really strong is because of
the silent cinema stars that had their special
film makeup on while being filmed, because
the film tape at that time was not
really sensetive to yellow or red, it kind of showed
both yellow and red as dark, and
it was not considered cool to have a dark face back then
so, you obviously want your face to be
as vibrant as possible, so people
would just paint their faces white, an then
to kind of accentuate eyes and lips, which are kind of
the most important pieces of acting, let's say
they would put dark eyeshadow
around their eyes and they would have some dark lips
just so they can have more expressive faces
so, that's what they did, and it didn't
mean that that was fashionable
they did not do that because of fashion, that was purely
because of tehnical issues they had. now to the accessories
the problem i have with excessive accessories
when people are trying to style themselves
"like 1920s", is because they mix
the wrong accessories, for example
i'm not a huge fan of wearing
long gloves for 1920s style dresses, because
a) that did not really happen that often
in evening situations..
maybe if you were at a really official thing with
the Queen, let's say, and someone, that's where
gloves were kind of expected to be worn
but for evening things.. i don't think
i've seen that many people wearing long gloves
like, the ones that reach kind of over your elbow..
i don't think i've seen that many women wearing those
in formal situations, or
like, balls and stuff, from 1920s, so.. now, shoes!
they were not high. they were not
high, they were not higher than they were before
the heel was pretty much the same
it almost looked the same, really
it was a really kind of like low heel that was kind of curved
in a specific way, which makes it really hard
nowadays to find heels like that
which is also
kind of why i get why when people
have 1920s parties, they just wear regular heels
cuz why would they look specifically for
heels like that, when they're really hard to find
so, yeah, i totally get it, but if you wanna go for something more historically
accurate, your heels shouldn't be that
high, and it probably shouldn't be really thin
cuz they got thinner in 1930s
but they were quite thick in 1920s. and also
t-bars were not really that huge of a thing
what i've seen is on most pictures is
like, a single strap across thefoot, and that's pretty much it
also, i think, a lot of people
think that 1920s were a decade of cloche hats
you know, the ones
that are
really tight over your head, and.. what was that?..
H eHE aD
and that's not true, i mean, obviously, it was a huuge thing, especially
later in the decade from, let's say,
1926-27, you could probably only see
cloche hats on the streets, cuz i've seen group pictures
where every single woman is wearing a cloche hat, but before that
that means, that was for most of the decade
it was completely ok to wear either
a cloche hat or
a hat with a wider brim
and it was equally fashionable, especially early in the decade
it was just as fashionable to wear a small hat
as it was to wear a big wide brim hat, with that brim
going a bit downwards, and also
what changed in 1920s hats was
that they stopped showing the forehead, they were really really low
when it comes to the front of your head
you could almost have your eyebrows covered by your hat
so, that's something that has changed because before that
you would wear them sort of on top of your head
that's very specific for 1920s, so if you do have a hat
try wearing it really low in front
and that should give you this like special effect
another thing that is my pet peeve and you know about that
is hair. so, ok, basically, you had two options
you either could cut your hair and have them really short, or
if you didn't wanna do that, you could wear them in a really
low tight bun, or you could just twist them
at the back of your head. sometimes, if you wanted
to be fashionable but you didn't feel like cutting your hair
you would have the front of your hair cut
so you could style them in a fashionable way
and the back of your head wold still be a bun
so basically you would have your long hair
and the front would make you look fashionable
so, those were like literally the only two options you had
either have short hair or
have long hair and pretend they're short..
so, that's why i don't really get why would anyone think
that long waves were fashionable in 1920s
so, i dont really know where that comes from, but that would not happen
in 1920s at all.. and the last thing is corsets.
so, i've heard "IN 1920s
WOMEN STOPPED WEARING CORSETS" so many times
it's actually unbelievable, and it's not true
because.. yes, it is true that
they stopped wearing corsets as they knew them before
meaning, structures with boning and stuff
and front opening, and lacing, but, again, "they
stopped wearing corsets" in 1920s perspective
because what they wore they didn't think of as corsets
but nowadays, i think we can pretty much call them corsets
they were just.. they were kind of corsets without boning
they had some elastic panels on the sides
or the back to shape them differently, but
they were .. the thing they were supposed to do
was exactly what a corset would do, meaning
shape a body so it adjusts to the beauty ideal better
but this time, instead of
accentuating the waist, it was supposed to flatten the silhouette
make the boobs go, make the butt
kind of stay in place
and basically it gave it a different silhouette, but it was still a corset, so, that's something that
majority of the women had to wear still
especially if they were a bit more curvy
to get the right silhouette, because the silhouette was really
hard to achieve, because, the beauty ideal at the time
was to be flat and have no boobs whatsoever
but at the same time you couldn't be
really skinny, cuz that was not fashionable, you had to have some
meat and fat..
so, that's really hard to achieve, so, in order to achieve that
you had to flatten your chest, and that's what
most people did, either by using special bras or
or special shirts and stuff
and then the corset was..
was multifunctional, cuz at the same time
it served as a garter belt. so, it's not true that they
didn't wear corsets, they did,
to a certain extent, especially if you are not skinny and
if you did not naturally have that silhouette
of a flat boyish
woman.. so, a lot of people still did, and
the only difference is
you didn't have to and you would not be considered
gross and indecent
so, the way they perceived corsets
changed, but the way they saw the silhouette
was still pretty much the same, like, if you don't have the silhouette
you're not fashionable, so, if a woman had big boobs
and she didn't hide them in any way, she would be considered
unfashionable. so, here's another thing
i alleged forgot about, and that is
i wanted to mention how 1920s
clothes were really really loose in a sense that
if you have a dress that you think might work
as a 1920s dress but it's really
tight or it's a bit tighter around your waist
area, there is a fair chance that
it will not work as a 1920s
style dress, mainly because everything back then
was supposed to be really really loose up
untill late 1920s, let's say, 1929
so, if you see something that's a bit
tighter, it's not 1920s style
even though it might look better on you than having
some loose rugs. it's kind of strange, because back then it
was considered fashionable to look like
a potato bag then having something that actually fits you..
but clothes basically used to look
as if they're a bit too big, so if something's
a bit tighter
it probably will not work, if you're looking for
a historically accurate look
ok, so, right now i can't really remember anything else
i wanted to point out
i'll probably remember at list five things as soon as i stop recording
but.. these are all kind of like suggestions, i really
advise you to dig deep into
1920s, because it's so much more than you think
there are so many trends that you could explore
and that might help you if you're looking for a 1920s
style outfit for a party or something
you might find it in unexpected places
you might, you know, find an indian robe that might actually work
you might have a shawl, that you can just wrap around your head
just have a look at photographs and
just find some inspiration, cuz it's a good
starting point. yeahhh where's my boy..
do you agree with me or not?
do you..
what?..
ouch!
such a little..