The Roaring Twenties saw the rise of the Flapper era, characterized by young Americans indulging in a hedonistic lifestyle and dancing to jazz music in illicit nightclubs. This generation rejected the rigid social norms of their predecessors and lived in the present, coping with the uncertainty of a future after the devastation of World War I. Famous starlets like Clara Bow also participated in this lifestyle. However, the Great Depression in the 1930s forced the Lost Generation to face a more challenging reality.
Historically, postwar generations are often defined by their excesses, as was the case in the so-called Roaring Twenties after World War I and the baboom era after World War II. In the case of the Roaring Twenties, otherwise known as the Lost Generation, the sudden influx of new consumer goods combined with a red-hot economy led many young Americans to indulge in a decidedly hedonistic lifestyle. Part of that lifestyle for fashionable young women was the introduction of short skintight dresses with multiple layers called “flapper dresses”. This image of an uninhibited young woman dancing with abandon in an underground nightclub would further define the Roaring Twenties as the Flapper era.
The Flapper era was born out of a period of great uncertainty for the younger generation, who had seen the devastating effects of a ‘war to end all wars’. Many felt disenchanted with the rigid social norms that had shaped their early childhoods, while others felt rudderless and abandoned. In an effort to define their generation, many young people who came of age during the 1920s decided to abandon the stifling moral codes of their predecessors and indulge in a much more self-centered and hedonistic lifestyle.
The roaring 20s were indeed roaring in illicit nightclubs that featured live jazz, illegal bath gin, and young patrons who knew how to take full advantage of it all. Flappers would literally dance and drink their hearts out, driven by the relentlessly upbeat beat of jazz bands. The patrons of these nightclubs often stayed over night or found other nightclubs to continue their celebrations. The Flapper era was largely about living in the present, as there was clearly no guarantee of a future in a world where large-scale deaths from war were now possible. In a sense, the Flapper era was dancing as fast as possible as a type of social coping mechanism.
The idea of beautiful young actresses and socialites bouncing from one lavish party to another didn’t start with Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. During the Flapper era, notable starlets like Clara Bow routinely spent their free time in dance halls and nightclubs. Other famous silent film stars would also attend or even sponsor their own hedonistic parties. The Flapper era seemed to belong exclusively to those under 30, but the devastating Wall Street crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression forced those of the Lost Generation to face a much more challenging reality during the 1930s.
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