100 YEARS Ago

A century later, we look at the fascinating 1920s a decade that redefined ideals of beauty, femininity, and freedom.

- OLI EGLER and RADHIKA BHALLA

The end of the First World War brought a new wind into the sails; people wanted to forever forget the tragedies of the previous years and start anew. It was also connected with the desire and effort to build a completely new life, the foundations of which had already begun to take shape. Women in the west had proved their viability during the war, won the right to vote at least in countries such as America, Britain, Canada, Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, etc.), and thus, became part of public and political life.

The change gradually began to manifest itself on all continents: precisely in 1922, the first senator, Rebecca Felton was elected in the American state of Georgia, and in the same year, the FBI employed the first female agent in its services, 54-year-old Alaska P. Davidson. At the same time, the first professional women’s soccer team was established in the USA. In addition, old values, morals, and aesthetic perceptions of what is feminine’ mercilessly flew out the window, and the modern, rebellious, strong, and independent woman took centre stage.

Flappers or the Dirty Girls with a Cigarette