HOME PAGE 1900 to 1913 1914 to 1918 1919 to 1929 1930 to 1938 1939 to 1945 1946 to 1950 Other sections

Edwardian • Hairstyle "A Flapper"

Fashion for girls from about 1900 to 1915
The title 'Flapper' originally referred to teenage girls
who wore their hair in single plait which often terminated in a wide ribbon bow.
When worn by a woman, as opposed to a girl, a single heavy plait can take on a life of its own. When walking it springs and flaps in a strange clockwork manner. This phenomenon, not often seen today, must surely be the origin of the term "flapper".
During the Great War flappers tied the hair with a big Butterfly Bow at the nape of the neck.
The later short bobbed hairstyles adopted by these girls in the 1920s borrowed the name " Flapper " Style.
The name rightly belongs to a generation of women, rather than a style of person or fashion.
Flapper
"..what would now be called a teenage girl, age 15-18; from the 'pigtail' of braided hair she wore and swung about on occasion"
John Brophy& Eric Partridge
Soldiers Songs & Slang 1914-18

Worn during her teenage years years until a girl chose her adult hairstyle.