I was checking out some old family photos and memories the other day; sepia tinted black and white, gorgeous but so old fashioned, showcasing 1920s fashion, my grandmother, and some Great Gatsby quotes.
And I couldn’t believe how fast and furiously the time has flown past but how much those memories are still part of me. It made me want to look up more about the 1920s fashion, and re-read the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It made me want to delve deep into my past and ancestry.
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Anyway, during lockdown we decided to go onto Ancestry dot com to research our family trees, and to be honest we found neither paupers or princes and no great scandals which wasn’t really what we were hoping for!
In more recent times, my grandmother once owned, what seemed to us young kids at the time, a massive five bedroomed Victorian house in Hampshire and visits to her as a child are some of my fondest memories.
She was young in the 1920’s and would regale us grandchildren with stories of dances and life after the first world war. It all seemed so glamorous and daring, and when she let us dress up in her vintage taffeta ballgowns, or flapper dresses accessorised with long strings of mock pearls, we were in seventh heaven.
1920s Fashion
I love 1920s fashion especially the elements of flapper style. I wish there was more opportunity to bring it back into our dress code today.
Nonetheless if you’re wanting to add a little vintage to your look there are some things that can be incorporated to give modern outfits a vintage twist.
These are some of the 1920s fashion elements to consider if you want to re-create the 1920s look:-
- Below-knee length drop-waist dresses with a loose, straight fit.
- Beaded evening dresses inspired by “flappers.”
- Cloche hats.
- Cut your hair into a short bob.
- Beaded or feather headbands for evenings.
- Long pearl necklaces, bold Art Deco colours and, faux gemstones.
- Search charity shops for small beaded purses, makeup compacts and vintage cigarette cases.
- (For more 1920s ideas check out Vintage Dancer)
Themed 1920s Flapper Style Dress
For a 1920s themed party, I love the elegant, beaded, vintage flapper dress right off the roaring 20s runways below. It comes in several styles and colours and is available on Amazon. I’d wear this dress to a Christmas party, or a cocktail event or a themed party for a bit of fun.
Oh to be transported to the magical but dangerous times of the Great Gatsby.
“In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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still as relevant today as they day you wrote it Jo. Thanks for the memories, and congratulations on going past the 2 year mark with Lifestyle Fifty. You really do have a blog that resonates with many of us
Thank you Jill 🙂
I came to this from the Trip Down Memory Lane post by Boomeresque. I absolutely remember no seatbelts in cars and going smack into the windshield of parents car when we were driving from Lodi to Reno before Interstate 80 existed! I have attempted many times to walk while keeping count and realization 10,000 is a lot as about 2,000 steps is a mile. And it’s amazing how easy it is to create a habit yet so hard to undo it and correct it. Oh, and from the early days what happened to the days of sitting on the front porch and neighbors visited it each other. This was a GREAT post! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it Mike! And it is always good to hear how people arrive at Lifestyle Fifty. Yes, what happened to neighbours just across the way chatting and sharing a cuppa!
Thanks so much for adding this essay to our “Travel Down Memory Lane” blog carnival. I lived in England for a year 1969-1970 and remember it being much as you described. It’s true that memories of the deprivations of World War II seemed much more omnipresent then. All my English friends’ fathers had fought and the rationing had been more severe in Britain than in the U.S. We rented a house with no central heating. I had never heard of chillblains (sp?) until I developed little blisters from putting my cold feet on a hot water bottle at night. My father once walked into the bathroom and found my mother sitting in a bathtub full of water with a sweater on! We had to put a shilling in the meter in the closet to get gas for the one hotplate my mother cooked on. The house had a coal burning stove in the kitchen. The landlady told my mother how wonderful it was, but that she needed to remember to run the hot water in the middle of the night or something would explode because the coal stove made the water so hot. My mother never touched the coal stove after that. And you’re right. Wimpy’s hamburgers were frightful. In fact, I don’t remember a lot of great food, this being before the British food Renaissance. Beans on toast for tea— indeed.
Ahh, you’ve just evoked so many more memories for me too Suzanne, thank you! Chillblains – arggghh! I was like your mother 🙂 I remember those coal burning stoves too and can just imagine your mother’s reaction! Food was not great in those days – mandarins were for Xmas only, bananas were treats, faggots and sausages were regulars, and yoghurt and garlic were things only eaten on holiday if you were lucky enough to go to Europe!
I agree that it is our sedentary lifestyles nowadays that lead to weight gain. As a child we had no junk food, my mum boiled the clothes in a washing cauldron, which progressed to a ringer. She rode a bicycle to her mothers house (several kilometres up and down hills) to do her housework for her!!! B.H. and I walk 5km/day, but the hours I spend on my computer counteract this. This week I joined a gym to use some muscles that walking does not use. I am getting ready for our 3 months of travelling which start on September 1st. Can’t miss out on climbing to those Lycian ruins in Turkey now can I?
Ahh thanks for those memories Jan. I know it’s amazing to think of how much more active people were then, and ringers, gosh, amazing contraptions!! Wow, another feisty fifty something off on another world adventure – yes, get as fit as you can for all the climbing amongst ruins and go for it!
Love the new website Jo and you are off to a brilliant start. As someone at that certain age, I am looking forward to the journey with you!
As for a habit to start today – hmm…I am going to have to think about that one – something achievable – maybe not to keep snackies in my drawer at work for when I “think” I need a pep up. I hear that a glass of water works well, and I certainly should drink more of that.
Actually we we talking today at our girls lunch about how much fitter and stronger our grandmother’s were than us. My grandmother raised 8 children and took in washing to make a few extra shillings. Imagine hand washing work clothes in a trough in lean-too in 100 degree heat! And then they lugged those heavy irons on and off the stove!. And probably had a cow to milk, and vegetable gardens to hoe. And of course they didn’t drive to the shops – they walked – and hauled the shopping back! The list goes on – really we have it so easy no wonder we, as a generation, have put on weight!
Thanks Jill! I’m glad you like it 🙂 And I enjoyed being reminded about the lives our Grandmothers’ lived – yes they were pretty much full on and all of it physical, no wonder they didn’t need to watch what they ate. And for sure they didn’t have the food choices and abundance that we have these days.
Brilliant, looking forward to more from you. Rae xxx
Thanks Rae, can’t wait to have you along for the ride. It’s going to be a lot of fun!