Crazy Fads Of The 1920s

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The postwar decade celebrated as the Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, was a time of meaning social change. With World War I over, Americans welcomed a menses of prosperity and carousal. It was a time of jazz music, dancing and speakeasies where bootleg liquor flowed during Prohibition. Money flowed, too, leading to a stock market boom and wild speculation on Wall Street. A number of crazes and fads swept the nation. At the same time, people sought refuge from all the giddiness and unpredictability. For that, they turned their focus to national heroes, sports champions and other office models who embodied traditional American values.

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Dance Crazes
Manner Trends
Pop Culture Fads and Pastimes
Aviators and Sports Heroes

i Dance Crazes

With the advent of radio, American popular music and dances reached a declension-to-coast audience. An energetic new trip the light fantastic called the Charleston became all the rage in the nation'due south ballrooms and trip the light fantastic toe halls. Young people were eager to evidence off their skills, sprightliness and stamina. Another popular craze was the circular-the-clock dance marathon. A human being endurance competition, a dance marathon required couples to movement their anxiety practically nonstop for dozens or even hundreds of hours, competing for greenbacks prizes.

two Fashion Trends

In the 1920s new hat styles emerged for men, along with argyle socks and raccoon fur coats. Simply Jazz Age style trends were more than noteworthy for women, whose habiliment and hairstyles reflected shifts in social attitudes. Women's skirts and bathing suits got shorter, as did their hair. Young women who danced the Charleston, wore skimpy dresses and bobbed their locks were nicknamed flappers. Silent film star Louise Brooks popularized the shingle cutting, while jazz vocalist Josephine Baker modeled a daring Eton ingather. Subsequently the outset Miss America pageant in 1921, beauty contests came into vogue. Beauty was no longer the domain of the leisure grade. Even housewives and working women shopped for the latest fashions and cosmetics in the Sears itemize or at chain stores similar Woolworth'south.

3 Pop Civilization Fads and Pastimes

Many 1920s Americans spent their free time enjoying new games and activities, along with a few fads. Ane of the about notorious fads of the decade was flagpole sitting, in which a person would climb the local flagpole and sit on tiptop of information technology for as long as possible. Similar a dance marathon, flagpole sitting was a test of endurance. Dorsum on the basis, mah-jongg, a Chinese game, became a wildly pop pastime. Simon and Schuster published the first crossword puzzle volume, which launched a nationwide crossword craze. Two stylish new periodicals, Time and Reader's Digest, hit the newsstands. Meanwhile, the Book-of-the-Month Club lured thousands of avid readers into literary discussion groups.

4 Aviators and Sports Heroes

In 1927 Charles Lindbergh became the first man to consummate a solo transatlantic flying. He became an overnight sensation and a national hero. The story of his mettlesome flight filled the front pages of newspapers effectually the world, while his Midwestern modesty charmed the nation. Every bit a pioneering female person aviator, Amelia Earhart inspired millions. Athletes like golfer Bobby Jones and boxer Jack Dempsey besides became celebrities, while baseball game legends Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth served every bit role models for a generation of American youth. Heroes like these gave Americans a sense of security in a time of sweeping social change and uncertainty.

Nearly the Writer

Shannon Leigh O'Neil, a New York City-based arts and culture writer, has been writing professionally since 2008. Her manufactures have appeared in "Become Magazine," "The New York Bract" and "HX Magazine," besides as online media. O'Neil holds a Chief of Arts in modern art history from the City College of New York, where she also studied French and minored in classical languages.