Gibson+Girls+and+Flappers

The Gibson Way By: Katie Griffith

Charles Dana Gibson is the originator of the Gibson Girls. He started to establish the most sophisticated drawings of women. They have their hair all done up and they wear very little makeup. They either wear long elegant dresses or skirts as well as magnificent blouses with giant spiffy ruffles. These ladies are able to be found wearing large hats with feathers. She (the Gibson Girl) is supposevely the ideal American women. The gibson girl are almost always portrayed as monumental and well-dressed. Only particular women can pull the look off. With angel like features and slender bodies with a larger hip area they can certainly pose for Charles Gibson to draw them. They have a youthful, vigorous looks that made them seem perfect as if they are a porcelain doll. In Gibson’s pictures the young ladies give off an atmosphere as if they are superior to men but in a positive way. The oh so dandy attitudes of these women are what complet them. They are very lively and wholesome at the same time. They also don’t go looking for a man, they wait until a nice gentle man has the guts to approach her and ask them for marriage. These ladies can also be found playing sports like golf, polo, rollar skating, and several others. The Gibson Girl evolved during the time of World War I. Job openings came about and all the men that were eligable to take the job were normally going into battle. The Girls to the chance and started to take the work force by storm. They did this by starting to work in factories, warehouses, and other places that men would have worked but could not at the time because they were over seas fighting. The women are taking over! Now the war is closing and is coming to end men are returning back home and trying to regain their spot that they had before they left for the war. The men returning that were well enough to work find it quite troublesome to get back into the same routine and being able to land a job. reason being is because the women that took the mens spot during the past couple years dont feel that they should have to give it their spot up just for a guy. They certainly did not wish to go back to becoming the basic house wife they once were. But since there are not many returning young soliders the women didn’t have many men to marry so they cant become a house wife. Most of the women do not plan on living there whole life just waiting around for a guy. Who knows if there was even a guy to be married to since so many of them were lost during the war. Since they find this time period so grueling they're starting to change the way they live. The ladies that use to be the oh so lovely gibson girls are completely changing their attire and as well as what they do during their free time. Although the gibson girl still remaind their youg daughters are attempting a new style. The British are calling this dramatic change and new style flappers. What is the big change between them, well instead of wearing long lengthy skirts and dresses, they are begining to wear dresses that don’t cover their knees. The dresses the flappers are wearing, are a bit baggy, showing their legs from the knees down and also exposing the ladies arms that is wearing it. Also artificial silk stockings were starting to be worn more and more.The bathing suit is also being worn out in public, but not just any bathing suits. They are wearing suits that are exposing almost all of thier legs. Flappers also stopped wearing pantaloons and are begining to wear step-ins.These Ladies are also applying large amounts of make up. The emphisize the eyes with heavey dark eye shadows. A big designer who is supporting this movement, Ms. Coco Chanel, is creating a style that puts out a boy like apperance with some feminality to it. The flappers are starting to cut their hair extremly short, in a bobbed style, somw have shorter hair than some men. The flappers aren't just changing up the style of the 1920's they are creating something brand new and adventerous. These young ladies are also helping to embellish and evolve the jazz age that some might find repulsive but others find exciting. These past twenty, thirty years have changed so much it hardly believable. What's going to happen next is the next question eveyone is asking. We would like to hear your opinion, is the flapper a good move on our part or not. What do you think should happen next. Write in and let us know, and support you opinion with facts. Thanks from all of us at __The Cinncinati Enquirer.__

Pictures http://www.studio-era.com/Images/flapper_chinese.jpg http://www.vintagevictorian.com/images/99dl_1_1small.jpg

Websites http://www.geocities.com/flapper_culture/

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm

[|__http://www.gibson-girls.com/__] [|__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_girl__]