Three Flappers

 

Three little flappers.  Well, maybe not, but at least they dressed the part.  There's a photo lab stamp on the back, "PAKO PHOTO SERVICE, DEVELOPING, PRINTING, ENLARGING, PROCESSED AUG 11 1928."  

Three Flappers

Ain't we got fun.  Once again, the flapper, the phenomenon of the 1920s.  Young women liberated from the social restrictions of the pre-World War 1 era.  I bought this one in Los Angeles.  I like the idea that they were young Hollywood starlets.  More likely shop girls, so a lot less liberated than they thought.

1908

No, 1908 is not the date this photo was taken.  Take a look at the lamp post on the left.  Now that that is cleared up, won't someone tell me the location of this picture.  The building in the background is pretty distinctive.  My guess is Paris, from the 1920s, and that this young lady is hanging out with the whole lost generation crowd.

Egyptian Styled Flapper

In my research, I've found a half dozen or so theories as to the origin of the word flapper. My favorite is that it referred to the flapping of wings; the wings of the newly free women of the 1920's. Anyway, flappers made their appearance in the years after World War 1 in both the United States and Great Britain. They bobbed their hair, smoked, drank, wore short dresses or uniquely styled clothes, used make-up, went to petting parties, had sex before marriage, and what seemed to me the most important thing, they worked. The head piece that this lady is wearing looks to be an Egyptian design. Why is the old man in the second picture staring so intently at this young woman?