The Roaring 20s dragged the goody-two shoes Gibson Girl to the floor as the period introduced flappers who did what they wanted and didn?t give a care what the whole world thought or said about them. Today, there?s a whole new generation of flappers in plunging necklines, shorter hemlines, higher heels and better make up. They?re just as courageous and outrageous as before, and it?s the exact attitude that designers push on the runways with their fierce clothes, set trends and models who are more than ready to ramp and drop it like it?s hot .
The modern flappers of 2012 favor androgyny less than they loved it back in the Fall/Winter season of 2011/2012 when designers wanted women to look more like boys. In the past, Coco Chanel called it the garconne look, meaning ?little boy?.? The modern flappers of 2012 also wear dresses, skirts and shorts with hemlines reaching far up the thighs unlike the just below-the-knee length of the twenties apparel. Not everyone likes a bob cut but in these days, the shorter the hair, the more ladylike and elegant a woman is. Makeup looks the same yet the current brands are more safe and improved, compared to the products of the twenties.
Back in the day, flappers shocked their elders, who weren?t ready for a change in women?s liberal actions and way of dressing, especially the young ones. Dancing was their biggest hobby and today, nightlife is so routine that almost all the party people dance till dawn. Atlantic Monthly criticizes flappers for they ? trot like foxes, limp like ducks, one-step like cripples, and all to the barbaric yawp of strange instruments which transform the whole scene into a moving picture of a fancy ball in bedlam?, when they danced.
Among the several attempts to define flappers, only few hit the mark. The Dictionary of Words and Phrases of William and Mary Morris states, ?In America, a flapper has always been a giddy, attractive and slightly unconventional young thing who was somewhat foolish girl, full of wild surmises and inclined revolt against the precepts and admonitions of her elders. Yet F. Scott Fitzgerald had a more idyllic way of defining flappers and wrote, ?lovely, expensive, and about nineteen?.
Not only did these young ladies dress provocatively. They smoked, drank, drove fast cars and petted with male companions in them to their hearts? content. It was a kind of mockery to the Gibson girl who remained dateless and waited for a man to woo her while the flapper flirted with anyone she liked. The same deviance nowadays is happening but it bothers society less. Most people in this modern period smoke and drink and drive fast cars anyway, regardless of gender. The difference is, the 2012 flapper may be free-spirited, spontaneous and fun-loving but not that careless.
Fashionista flappers such as the most famous celebrities, designers and supermodels value their looks, reputation and composure. It is always elegant to be discreet, for indiscretion is somewhat cheap. Even if young people and the old alike are more rampant about their sexuality, how they deal with the consequences of their actions determine their social status. With good manners, good taste and good grooming, you can make 2012 fashion roar as loud as lions with their pride.
