The 1920s were a period of economic prosperity and vigorous growth in the U.S.
...leading to a rise in new technologies, society and economy, marking the beginning of the modern era. America's economy increased by 42% and produced half of the world's output, as Europe was still recovering from the devastating effects of World War I. Newfound prosperity only continued as more goods were manufactured, new financial innovations and the expansion of already existing industries permitted exuberant investment in the stock market. This supported the rapid growth of some companies, but also led to an overheated economy.
An overheated economy occurs when available supplies are unable to keep up with the high demand for goods and commodities, leading to their prices increasing. As more workers are now needed to produce said commodities, job wages are increased to attract workers. When the general price level eventually rises, it creates inflation and this ends up hurting the economy.
Unemployment throughout the decade remained low and for the most part, unemployment stayed below the natural rate of 4%, with the exception of an economic recession from the years of 1920-21 where rates increased to 11.7%.
As a result of a long stock boom, stock prices in the 1920s soared to peaks never before seen. From the years of 1921-29, stocks quadrupled in value. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped from a value of 63.9 points in August 1921 to a high of 381 + right before the October 1929 market crash. All in all, the situation of the 1920s stock market was very much a bull market. Stockbrokers were allowing stocks to be bought "on-margin", investors became even more confident and began borrowing money heavily to invest in the stock market. All of this enabled investors to afford to purchase more stocks than they could have previously, and eventually receive better gains if the stock price rose. This innovation that contributed greatly to the boom of the stock market was the very one that ended up as a weakness when prices fell.
According to most widely-used estimates, real GNP (gross national income) grew about 4.2% per year from 1920 to 1929. By nineteenth, twentieth and even modern-day standards, this is considered relatively rapid economic growth. As again, the 1920-21 recession did interrupt this growth for a short while, lasting for about a year but rapid recovery soon reestablished full employment by 1923. From that point on, economic growth between 1923 and 1929 was much smoother apart from a very mild recession in 1924 and 1927. With the exception of the aforementioned 1920-21 depression and some minor interruptions, the American economy established strong growth during this period.
A major trend of 1920s fashion was the development of a more convenient and modern female wardrobe achieved through the simplification of dress as the decade progressed on.
Fashion began to reject formality and layers in favour of simplicity and comfort. For hundreds of years, women's skirts were floor length and rarely above the ankle, although the working class wore shorter garmets to facillitate their work. However there were some periods between 1780-1830 where skirts rose to reveal ankles. In 1915, designers finally raised hemlines to calf lengths and only continued to rise after the war; To 10-15 inches above the floor in 1925 then to 15 inches in 1927. Despite conservative backlash from this new trend of rising hemlines, increasing economic independence for women and societal changes accelerate by WW1 lead shorter skirts to prevail. Even though the popular notion of the decade's fashion consists of flappers with short skirts, most of the dresses women wore at the time were still fairly modest by today's standars, reaching their shortest length at just below the knee at around the year of 1927.
During the decade, waistlines and hemlines follower inverse projections. For the earlier part, waistlines dropped until 1923 then began to rise in 1928 while on the otherhand, hemlines actually rose until the middle part of the decade then started to fall. As for evening wear, hemlines for evening dresses occassionally reached floor length, but many styles still continued to follow the hemlines in daywear (it is important to note that back in the day, the clothing people wore for the day was still distinct from eveningwear fashion).
Despite being known for its glitz and glamour, this decade in fact brought practicality and simplicity to styles as compared to the previous decades. The popular silhouette that dominated was the "La Garconne" look popularized by prominent designer CoCo Channel. The silhouette was slender, straight and androgynous, that typified the typical 1920s dress with a dropped waistline and rising hemline, reflecting the era's newfound sense of freedom and relief. It was not the only style present however, another popular one being "robe de style" popularized by another designer Jean Lavin. Dresses of this style were more femminine, with fuller skirts (sometimes with panniers), in contrast to the shapeless La Garconne style. Both day and evening wear dresses had simple construction, the latter being more decorated with beadwork, sequins and embroidery.
