Wednesday 7th December 2011

Since my last post i have done some research on each topic in order to decide which one i'll enjoy doing most. 

Below I have posted information that i gathered from the eras which i am most interested to research on:

• The Edwardian Period- England

This is the era of the reign of King Edward VII (1901-1910), his reign marked the end of the Victorian era with his mother's death (Queen Victoria). During his reign King Edward introduced the new style of clothing to society influenced by fashion and art from Continental Europe this could be because  the King loved to travel. He also had an influence on the upper classes to play sports which resulted in introducing new clothing styles which allowed them to play sports freely. Not only was fashion changed in this era but also in politics there was now more social mobility such as taking interest in the poor and in womens rights. The drastic change in society resulted in the economy growing which unfortunately will be destroyed with the First World War. The arts in this period also changed along with fashion and everything else as artists were influenced by the changes in society such as human rights, electricity etc in their works. 

Below is an image extracted from: http://www.tudorlinks.com/treasury/articles/view1900.html

The image is an example of women's fashion during that era. 

This era is often known as the "Gilded Age" it's been captured best in the famous film Titanic. 

• The Roaring Twenties- New York

This era brought changes in society especially with the roles of women during this period, they were able to achieve office jobs and work for themselves instead of being housewives. In the year 1920 the 19th Amendment was passed in the United States, this amendment granted suffrage to women and was then introduced in Great Britain 4 years later. Not only were women allowed to vote also the Matrimonial Causes Act was reinforced which meant that in the case of a divorce both sexes are regarded as equals. During this era there were several revolutions such as in music, fashion and scientific discoveries. Women started wearing more casual clothes covering less i.e. short skirts they started cutting their hair short i.e. Eton Crop. These women were know as "Flappers", "Cigarette Smokers" or "cosmetic-wearers". The changes in society especially for women resulted in the first Miss America.  pageant in 1921. The economy in manufacturers rose by 60% which was a shock considering that the country was recovering from the first first world war. During this time most people were living in urban areas with homes running on electricity. By the mid 1920's Jazz was being played in dance halls all over the country and The Blue's which was originally played by poor black people became an industry which already breaks the barriers of black and white people. Not all changes were positive especially with new forms of travelling being introduced. In 1921 only 5 out of 49 American and British people survived the R38 accident. The R38 was the largest airship built at that time (700 foot). It was supposed to be sold to the United States after being tested unfortunately the test failed as the machine burst into flames.

Below is an image extracted from: http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.85061.1313868009!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/image.jpg

The image below is an example of the fashion during that era you can see how the women are showing their bare arms with the low cut dresses, short hair and one of them is smoking a cigarette. 

• The Swinging 60's, Mods and Rockers- UK

In the 1960's Britain was recovering from the war and becoming richer in their economy with new things happening in music, fashion, film etc...This created what is known as the Modernist Movement (mods). During this period Mod's spent most of their wages on clothes i.e. mohair suits, shirts and smart shoes therefore they didn't have enough money to pay for transport as a result of this they started a trend on investing their money on cheap Italian scooters i.e. Vespa's and Lambretta's. Mod's were mostly southern from urban areas although elsewhere youths stuck to their rock and roll style from the 1950's i.e.jeans, leather jackets, powerful motorcycles (cafe racers). In the early years of the 60's women's fashion didn't change much as their style was still very influenced by the fifties although by the mid 60's the long skirts were out and the mini skirts were in. Short hair on woman also became fashionable along with the beehive hairdo. During the 60's there was high number of teenagers (post war "baby boom") unlike nowadays their wasn't an unemployment crisis back then therefore teenagers had plenty of money. They would spend it on things such as clothes and pop music

Below is an image extracted from: http://www.coldal.org/images/remember/bike.jpg 

It is an example of the bikes people Mod's could afford in the 60's.