How Womens Fashion Has Changed Over Time
Over our time period, fashion has changed and continues to. Our environment sometimes affects the way how we dress. As in the weather, our individual beliefs and what others thought women should dress like. As a women and for all human beings, everyone should be able to be free and express themselves accordingly. In the 1920’s the way women dressed is was very old looking. The clothes lacked modern day creativity. Women used to be fully clothed in suits during the hot summers of August because that was the norm(speaking for America). Religion and faith can also be the determining factor of how a women should dress. Some people believe that women should be fully clothed and there is nothing wrong with that because that is their beliefs. Time is forever changing. Meaning clothes women wore back then are not the same as today in some countries. The people around you in some cases decided what you should wear back then in the 1900’s. Today in most cases, women can wear what they want. Expressing themselves in a free atmosphere that fits them accordingly.
Most women in America were housewives during this time period. A housewife is basically a lady who stayed at home caring for the kids and the house as well. The dresses they wore at home were quite simple. “Dresses were colorful plaids, checks, stripes, or solid colors with pretty embroidery and trim such as lace or rick rack” back then, (Debbie). This is what basically women wore back in the day if they were a housewife in America. During the 1920’s in France most women were flappers in the city of Paris. Flappers were like dancers. After World War 1 the woman felt free. They decided to go out and hang out at bars more with dresses that stopped at the knee unlike the american housewives who dresses were down to their ankles with stockings. The flappers became a trend across the world and before you know there was flappers in America. Since most of the housewives stayed inside their were some occasions where they did have to go outside in public and when they did, wool or a silk blend crepe is what their suits were made out of. Imagine wearing that is the hot summer heats. Women in France on the other hand had designers to come up with new ideas for women to wear by dressing them in better clothing that fitted their new lifestyle for a change in a womens role in society in France, compared to the clothes women in America was wearing at the time.
Back in the 1920’s in America, America was mainly a christian country. This is due to fact that the world has just gotten out of World War 1. The americans needed something to fall back on as in to hold the country up since the war had just ended. This is the time period were christians started to emerge up from the american soil. Fully devoted christians believe that women should dress modestly and appropriately. The women during this time period did exactly just that. When they went outside in public they're suits covered most of their bodies. Their shoulders and arms were covered and little chest was shown. The suits did show some parts of the legs and when they did women also wore stockings. To compliment themselves most financially stable women had a pair of pearls to wear with their suits. During this time period the women obied the dress code at home and outside of home by dressing accordingly and respectively during this time period. Now things has changed. A christian today might dress however they want to dress. Back then they had no choice but to dress modestly and respectfully because that is what society did during that time period.
Women today can wear what they want and feel free at the same time. Wearing what they want doesn't mean they lost their faith. It is simply because life is always evolving, a change is bound to happen. Fashion for women has transitioned from wool suits that covered most of your body to crop tops in shorts. Of course that's not appropriate for church but most women keep a dress collection that will suit them well for church. House clothes for women today are more modern day and up to date. Women can wear Jeans now whenever they want in America because time has changed. Expressing how you feel by wearing clothes was not a thing back then. Woman had a dress code that they did obey. Did they have to? Yes and No. I say yes for the reason that it was the norm back then. If they dressed the same then they would fit in. Forgetting to wear your stockings will probably make them stand out and receive bad attention. Now women can wear any apparel they please regardless of their faith in America because it is their choice to wear a pair of leggings if they want to without being religiously judged by another american. I myself wear what I want because this is a free county and when it is time for church I dress modestly and respectively because I am a Baptist under the christian faith. The Catholic Church was big at this time in France and they way they dressed was not much different from America’s way of dressing women in the 1920’s. Women were still required to dress accordingly and respectively while out and at home. Unless if you were a flapper of course.
However some views of men did play at part in how women should dress in the past. Currently in France women have to to wear a bikini on the beach because it is the law. Most higher forms of governments around the world are ran by males. No matter how you see life men will always think that they do the job better. The government allows for these rules to be made, just like the Burkini Ban. Burkini Ban is a law saying that women should wear bikinis in France. If a women does not obie by the law then a ticket will most likely be written. Siam was simply “Wearing leggings and a tunic top with a simple headscarf, she was enjoying her holiday – a policeman strode over and told her that she was breaking the law”(Marie Claire). Siam’s holiday was not the best for her this day and since the 23rd of August “16 women in France have been fined for covering up their hair or their body on the beach in a new ruling dubbed the #Burkini Ban”(Marie Claire). Thankfully in the United States there is no such things as a #Burkini Ban. If there was then their will probably be riots with women acting crazy. America is supposed to be the land of the free. Women should decide what they want to wear, especially when the fashion industry is steady growing. It is quite sad that some women around the world have to go through something like this. Women should wear what they want at all times to a certain extent. As long as what women wear is appropriate fitting the correct occasion then what they wear should not be a problem.
Furthermore, the way women dress today are different from back in the 1920’s to now. Women back then had to deal with the hot summer heats while wearing a wool suit at times. That was the norm in both countries. When flappers came around, the way women dressed changed slowly. Beliefs and faiths also played a part in how women dressed. Men are still in charge today deciding how women should dress on the beach in some cases, but that does not completely change the fact that today is a new day. Meaning the way women dressed in the 1920’s is totally different from today.
