Jazz Age - Fashion / Makeup - from your Dramaturg

1920s Makeup and Fashion

by Constance Semponis

The fashion of the 1920s may very well have been the biggest fashion statement in world history. Until then, women always wore their hair long with corsets and skirts that never showed their feet (that was considered risqué). Men always had spiffy ties and coats with well fitted trousers. That all changed once 1920 came along and rebellion of the Victorian era was high. Woman cut their hair almost as short as the men’s, lost the corset and not only cut those skirts above the knees, but lowered the neckline and lost the sleeves. 

Prior to the 1920s the Victorian women wore makeup that merely covered their skin, with possibly some rouge and a bit of lipstick. Later on in this very era this style would change drastically and eventually lead to the bright and heavy colors of the Flappers with the woman we now call the Gibson Girl. 

Today the Gibson Girl is a staple in historical fashion. She is considered high class, adorable, and very much like a girl next door would be in the 1900s. She’s very sweet looking and welcoming, so it’s no wonder that Disneyland has an ice cream parlor dedicated to her. However, this is a very modern view of this lovely lady. When Charles Dana Gibson first drew her, she was not considered a lady at all! Back in the 1900s older generations despised these sketches that had the younger generations excited. Her makeup very heavy for the time (check out those eyes) and she wore revealing bathing suits and dresses that showed off her perfect curves. Her hair didn’t make anything better. It was seen as lazy and too relaxed for a lady of the day. But this relaxed style caught the eyes of the public, who started copying it to the point were there was nothing the older generations could do about it. 

But the Gibson girl was only a glance at what was to come not much later with the Flapper. She took the Gibson girl’s style and exceeded it. All of a sudden not only her clothes, but her makeup was essential to this rebelliousness. Eyes were now heavy with mascara and darkened deeper with eyeliner while lips were dark red almost to a purple. With how much heavier makeup was getting, the application now became very important. 

“Lipstick, the favorite product of the 1920s, was first applied with the fingers, using two fingers for the upper lip and one for the lower, creating a pursed, full effect. Gradually, application of what in France was known as raisin was perfected and the style called for the outer corners of the lips to be covered, using brushes or pencils,” (Castelbajac, 36)

In her book, The Face of the Century: 100 Years of Makeup and Style, Kate De Castelbajac continues to describe some very fascinating ways that makeup was applied in the 1920s. Now the most basic form of makeup to us, foundation and powder took quite some work to get correct back then. “Powder was applied over a cold cream base with a hoop of feathers or lamb’s wool, or it was used with a puff, moistened and applied wet to form a paste that was thicker than powder. As early as 1921, matching the correct shade of makeup to hair and facial coloring was popular.” (Castelbajac, 36)

Of course, we can’t forget about the rouge. “Rouge became available in various forms: cream, powder, liquid, and rouge papers.” (Castelbajac, 36) She then explains that rouge became as popular as lipstick, most of which had one color that went with any skin tone. But some companies, such as Trejur and Bourjois, made various colors. One company called Healthglow even had a color known as the “color of rich glowing blood.” 

Makeup was on the rise, but one product that would go to change the course of cosmetic history arrived in 1925. It is known as nail polish. According to Castelbajac, nail polish itself was commercialized in 1917, but the first liquid form that had pigment was introduced in the 1920s (Fun Fact: the first color produced for nail polish was bright pink and only applied to the middle of the nail). The popularity of manicures boomed while products such as polishes, cakes, powders, and even orange cuticle remover were all just basic products used during these manicures. No true Flapper went without one!

With makeup there was much style that had to accent it. One such style was women’s hats, known as the Cloche. They were short and shaped to the head so that her short hair could still be shown. Even though the hair was cut short, that didn’t mean that women stopped spending time styling it. In fact, they would spend ours at home and at the beauty parlor finger-waving it and getting permanents for that lovely curl. Straight hair was most unfashionable. 

Although the men were not as ostentatious as the women, their style still made a big mark in men’s fashion. Bootleggers and gangsters style had become extremely popular with expensive suits, hats, and what we now know as Bling. They had rings, watches, and belts that were encrusted with jewels such as diamonds, rubies, and sapphires among the golden chains. Another popular item among the younger men was  the Oxford pants. These pants were often too long and too wide for the legs, which may look ridiculous now but were quite wild back then. 

The fashion of the 1920s arguably set the scale for the rest of the Twentieth and Twenty-First centuries. The Gibson Girl was the inspiration for what would later become the wild and party-loving Flapper, going from a period of high collars, corsets, and extremely long skirts to one of low necklines, no corsets, and very short skirts. Makeup would become even more popular and change the way women looked and regarded themselves. Even the men’s fashion would change to one of ultra conservative to the more outlandish gangster style. Fashion was at it’s peak along beauty products and the love for showing off what had been restrained for so many years.