wellpresseddaisy | UFH 1920s Video

I wrote this a while ago on the YouTube channel Ultimate Fashion History, but wanted to pull it into a separate post. Because I’m petty and bad information sends me B.E.C. Also I spent most of today trying to find the post (posted as a reply last summer when I apparently forgot to tag it).

Because I’m kind of a masochist, I watched the 1920s one. Now, I’m not an expert and I’ve just started getting more into the 20s for both research and sewing, but it was…not great. Also, she’s snide.

For a video purporting to be about fashion history, I got about 10 minutes of actual fashion history. Out of about a half hour. She spent more time on bios of three film stars, what Art Deco is, and showing modern interpretations of the 1920s.

Although, she clearly likes the 20s more (goes on about modernity and finally being able to move!), so that…actually didn’t make it easier to watch. I was annoyed at the subtle digs at the past.

Issues I Noticed

1. Spoke as if all women in the 20s used makeup on the regular. Didn’t differentiate at all between what you might see in a city and a more rural area. Was also quite judgy about makeup styles and possibly incorrect on some points. I have to look.

Ignored anything older women may have worn.

2. Spoke as if all women bobbed their hair. No mention of other styles. No mention of men or older women.

3. Keeps showing modern runway and fashion interpretations of the 20s.

4. Described the ideal body type as ‘short and squat/square’. Used a pic of a 20s Miss America whose measurements belied that claim. She had a 9 inch difference between her waist and hip and was 5'6". It 5'6" now short? Is a 9 inch hip to waist differential now square?

5. Claims that the 20s are the first time the arm has been fully bare (while showing an image with a short cap sleeve) since Ancient Greece. Clearly has an advanced case of Victorian Ballgown Bodice Blindness.

6. Claims that women wore cloche hats to appear to have a small head. I’ll have to look this up, because I’ve never heard this one before. I’m assuming this is bullshit.

7. She does mention that there were very few Flappers. So, like, half a point there.

8. Have to look up if there were laws on women smoking in public. I don’t think so, I think it was just convention, but I’ll check. (No laws on women smoking in the street by the 1920s. The laws once on the books were rarely enforced)

9. Claims women keep crossing their legs in photos to show them off since they could now. Also sounds like bullshit.

10. Appears to use an image of a late teens corset, possibly a very early 20s one, when talking about what’s under a 20s woman’s clothing. The picture is kind of small, but it looks like the late teens version of the Scroop corset.

No mention of slips, teddies, bloomers, or anything else. Apparently women wore a bandeau and Mrs. Dewitt-Bucater’s corset from Titanic and a dress.

No mentions of the difference between a young woman’s underclothes and an older woman’s.

11. Claims metallics were completely new and never seen before. Possibly connects that to beading, but I’m not positive. Has a bad habit of jumping topics.

12. Never mentions knitwear.

13. Claims Chanel was the most brilliant designer ever (seriously, when Vionnet also existed?). Does mention her collaboration during WW2. And no, Chanel did not design the first clothing women could both be stylish and work in.

14. Seems to talk mostly about the fads and very fashionable clothes. Ignores the early 20s and focuses more on the mid-to-late 20s. Still doesn’t mention knitwear. Or what fabrics were used. Or innovations in fabric tech. Art silk, anyone?

What did people wear at home? She’s certainly not going to tell you.

15. Uses some street photos of actual people, but leans very heavily on photos of film stars and modern interpretations from runway shows and fashion shoots (reiterated because I hate this so much).

16. Implies we see more men’s hats in the crowd for Valentino’s wake because they were gay. (This is the point my fitness tracker suggested I take 2 minutes to breathe).

17. Barely mentions Egyptomania because she covered it in the Ancient Egypt video. It got maybe a minute. Thanks, let me just torture myself some more for what’s likely misinformation.

18. Called Jazz ‘crazy music no one had ever heard before’, completely ignoring that Jazz grew from Ragtime. (Any music historians feel free to correct me here…about the birth of Jazz, not the 'crazy music’ comment. It was and is glorious music.)

19. Claims the 1929 stock market crash changed fashion overnight when we can see hemlines dropping before that. Also, fashion didn’t change that drastically from 1929 to 1930. Those changes started early in '29.

20. Did give a nice bio of Josephine Baker, touching on her service as a spy in WW2 and her work in the Civil Rights movement in the US. While nice, this is not 1920s fashion history.

21. ETA: Barely talks about menswear. She could have done a while separate half hour just on men’s trousers in the 20s.

22. ETA2: Doesn’t touch on the rise in home sewing in the period due to simplified shapes, etc.

If anyone knows more than me, feel free to correct anything. Honestly, if I were her student I’d ask for a refund from my university. I learned nothing new and her snide implication about the men at Valentino’s wake was both rude and unnecessary.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, ahistorical constant wearing of trousers by Miss Fisher aside, does a better job of showing what women were wearing in the late 20s