Non-stop Fun

The upbeat mood of the 'Roaring Twenties' is memorably encapsulated in the novel The Great Gatsby, the first to use the term 'Jazz Age.' It's a time characterized by wild exuberance and pure fun, at least in the cities.

Gone are the elaborate floor-length gowns and reserved manners of the Victorian Era, whose tone is refined and dignified. Gone, too, is long hair for women, coiled in careful arrays beneath enormous flowered hats.

Instead, young women 'bob' their hair short, and dress in flashy, loose-fitting outfits that leave plenty of leg showing. Women can now smoke in public, and gleefully kick up their heels wherever they go.
Flappers and jazz, 1920s

  Energetic Outburst
Jazz is the most thoroughly American creation ever to be let loose on an unsuspecting world. Everyone is beguiled by its unrestrained energy. Duke Ellington leads the charge, while other black performers help keep the pulse going. The Cotton Club in New York's upscale black district, Harlem, is the white-hot, glowing center of this powerful new force.

Louis Armstrong and jazz clubs, 1920s

  Performers Fan the Frenzy
The fuel behind the dance craze is music, and Fats Waller's 'Ain't Misbehavin' (top left) is emblematic of the playful mood. Wild and unrestrained, jazz explodes with innovation, while it's catchy 'swing' rhythm gets feet tapping and dancers out of their chairs. It's unexpected, and refreshingly jubilant, blending Dixieland with New Orleans ragtime.  Without jazz, there would be no flappers, and almost all the great musicians are black. It marks the beginning of the integration of black culture into American life.


Style and fashion, 1920s

  Bobbed Hair and Short Skirts
Fashions reflect the relaxed, playful atmosphere. Makeup is now a must-have element of urban chic. Clothing is altogether slinkier, from swishing skirts and diaphanous gowns to the revealing tease. It's America's first performance art, elevating women from the status of elegant background furnishings to center-stage performers. Women's self-liberation is arriving all at once, without anyone's permission.