Through The Decades Series-1920’s

Hello Lovely!

Welcome to the first post of the Through The Decades Series. During this series I’ll be talking about the beauty trends popular during these times. I hope this series inspires you to try trends of the past, and learn about how far the beauty industry has come.

You are probably wondering why I’m starting off in 1920’s rather than the 1910’s. This is because I find the 1920’s to be the turn and the start to a revolution. Women started to rebel, and break from the norm. Daring to be different, these women’s relaxed style showed their rejection of the Victorian days, and also came to symbolize the disagreement of the Prohibition.

In the decades before the Roaring Twenties, good girls didn’t wear makeup, it was messy to use and associated with promiscuous women such as prostitutes. But this all changed when flappers began using makeup that was meant to be noticed. This was a reaction to the subdued and feminine pre-war Victorian times and styles. So you can understand why this was shocking at first, and a huge choice of rebellion when women started using makeup.

The most popular look of the 1920’s was kohl rimmed eyes giving a dark smoky eye look, red lips with an exaggerated cupid’s bow, rosy cheeks brushed on in circles to create a more fuller face, and a short Bob haircut with finger waves.

Women lined their eyes with dark smudged kohl. The goal was for a bold dramatic smoky eye look which we still do to this day. For eyebrows women would pluck their brows to form a thin line, if not all their brow, and then would draw them back in a thin line(this makes me cringe haha). This was inspired by Hollywood actresses who used this technique to be able to show more emotions in the silent films. Mascara was nothing like the product we love today. Mascara came as a wax that you would add water to, and use a toothbrush like brush to apply(can you imagine that huge brush by your eyeballs haha). The Maybelline cake mascara had instructions and a brush to apply. Since the brush hadn’t evolved into the circular wand we have today, women would use the Kurlash eyelash curler, invented by William Beldue in 1923, for a more dramatic effect.

When it came to lipstick, women only had one option, the shade of dark red. Can you imagine being confined to one shade of lipstick!? Now we have so many options that we need guides on how to find the perfect lipstick shade for our skin tones haha. But with the invention of the metal, retractable tube in 1915, lipstick application was changed forever. You could carry the tube with you and touch up as often as needed. Metal lip tracers and stencils ensured flawless application that emphasized the lip line. Especially since the most popular look was the heart-shaped “cupid’s bow.” Which was an exaggerated upper lip, where lipstick was drawn above the lip line in the shape of a cupid’s bow.

Opposite of our contouring techniques now, women of the 1920’s wanted the illusion of a fuller healthier face. To do this they would use the red sometimes even orange rouge(known as blush to us now), and was applied in circles on the cheeks, as opposed to brushed along the cheekbones as we do today. In the beginning of the 1920’s, it was appealing to have pale skin. This is because a tan would symbolize a worker who is out working all day in the sun. So women strived for pale skin, until Coco Channel had a little vacation mishap. Coco was on vacation when she fell asleep in the sun, giving her a tan. Magazines blew up with the news, and soon enough it was thought if you had a tan, then you had the time to leisurely relax out in the sun. Quite the opposite from their original thoughts of a tan.

Probably one of the most dramatic beauty changes of the time, was the Bob haircut. Women were rebelling and chopping their once long locks that was expected of them in the 1910’s. This was their way to represent the freedom of expression. Bobbed hair with finger waves became extremely popular in the 1920s. Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, and Marion Davies, considered the “it girls” of their time, they were all huge trend setters in this style. To cut off your locks was taken as a serious deal, not always seen as good either. At that time, long hair was seen as a sign of femininity, hair may have been worn up but was always long. Some women were fired from jobs, and even rejected by friends and family. At first when women wanted to do this look, they couldn’t just walk into a salon and ask the hairstylists to cut off their hair into the blunt, below the ears style. Many hairstylists would refuse to perform the shocking and highly controversial request. Plus some hairstylists didn’t even know how to tackle this haircut, since they had only ever used their shears on long hair. This brought women to who had been first rejected to head to a barbershop. When hairstylists saw the impact this hairstyle was creating, they learned the bob cut. This was the boom to the hair industry! As the style gained more popularity, it was the standard haircut in the widely distributed Sears mail order catalog during the ’20s. This brought on more sophisticated variations that developed. Hair was styled in the finger wave (S-shaped waves made using fingers and a comb), the Marcel (also wavy, using the newly invented hot curling iron), shingle bob (tapered, and exposing the back of the neck) and Eton crop (the shortest of the bobs and popularized by Josephine Baker) added shape to the blunt cut. Accessories were designed to complement the bob cut, usually headbands mostly worn over the forehead, or even close fitting hats.

In the 1920’s, the makeup industry was relatively new, and women were just beginning to purchase makeup products on a regular basis. As the quality of makeup began to improve, by the end of the decade, there were about 1300 brands of makeup! This decade was such a revolutionary stand point for the beauty industry, not just makeup but hair as well. This was the beginning to an ever growing industry.

The Roaring Twenties were a time filled with iconic looks, that to this day we are inspired to recreate these classic beautiful looks. I dare you to add a touch of dramatic Old Hollywood to your modern day routine. I had so much fun creating my 1920’s inspired look. I can only hope my blog can give you some inspiration to try this look for yourself.

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Be kind, and spread love.

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