Flashback Friday! Makeup through the ages

Don't get in a 'flap' It's the 1920's

 

Because of the shortages of items and rationing during WWI ladies didn't have access to beauty products. This all changed in the 20s! 

During the war when all the men were fighting, women were left to fill the rolls of men, driving buses, working in factories, this liberated the ladies tremendously. Rationing lasted until the early 20s.

Previous to the 1920's tanned skin was considered ugly as it implied that you worked outside and were of a lower class. But along came Coco Chanel....Coco opened her couturiere in Paris in 1919. Coco liked nothing more than taking a nap in the sun. Coco's fashions became so popular that ladies even started copying her crop hair cut, hemlines got shorted the ladies started laying in the sun to get a tan. 

It is commonly thought that the reason makeup became so popular was the imbalance in the ratio of men and women because of the men lost at war.

The heavily made-up look of the 1920s was a reaction to the demure, feminine 'gibson  girl' of the pre war period of  the 1920s, an international beauty culture was forged, and society increasingly focused on novelty and change. Fashion trends influenced theater, films, literature, and art^.

Women also found a new need to wear more make-up. A skewed postwar sex ratio created a new emphasis on beauty

Lipstick

If you had to have one item in your beauty drawer in the 20s then lipstick was it. During the 1920s long wear lipstick was available and was known as 'kissproff'. Helena Rubenstein created a product called 'Cupids Bow' which was said to be a self shaping lipstick! I hope those ladies had a steady hand!

Blush

Blush was now becoming available in powder and cream forms with many colour varieties available. Photographs were becoming more commonplace in the 20s and a swipe of blush made all the difference when the flash went off. Blush was also important when trying to capture the eye of a potential husband as it made ladies appear healthier.

Mascara

Mascara and even false eyelashes really became popular in the 1920s. At first ladies used a mix of vaseline with soot or coal to create a gel that was brushed onto the lashes. T.L Williams invented Mascara when he noticed his sister Maybel applying this mix of coal and Vaseline.  And thus Maybelline was created.

Until next time!