It was the first generation of flappers who came to fame. Their generation was not only a lot more mature than this new generation, but they were a lot more rebellious, more rebellious than those who came before. This rebelliousness was not only in the look of their hair but also the lifestyle – they dressed as rebellious as possible.
It was very important: “We are going to change our whole way of living”, but they did not want to change their hair. You can’t go anywhere in America without seeing flappers’ hair.
How do you explain what kind of lifestyle flappers had?
Flappers wanted to be taken seriously and not to be thought of as the weird kids.
The first thing that they wanted was to become famous and they liked fashion. They wanted to be treated as if they were famous.
And if any fashion trend was introduced, it was the fashion of flappers, in flapper’s name, to bring it in.
It was not possible to go beyond the mainstream. The fact is that every single fashion trend in the American fashion world, from fashion to clothes to hair, was the product of the American fashion industry.
What was the most important difference between traditional and contemporary American hairstyles?
Stylistically, it was not a very important thing because there were no trends from the mid-’60s to the mid-’70s. What changed from the mid-’60s to today was the music of the 60s, the new music style and fashion, which brought in the fashion movement.
What is contemporary American fashion?
Today flappers are wearing what they want – they can wear the clothes as they want. They are making clothes, not only going around or going to the movie theater. You also can wear the clothes, just like you could do in the days when they wore suits.
Today, all hair styles are acceptable in the American fashion world. You could even have two different hairstyles: one could be a traditional hair style, which was the hairstyle used by flappers of the 70s, or the modern style, which was developed in the 80s and the 90s. In the 90s, many old hairstyles were worn once again, like the short hair.
What did you see when you first saw flappers?
I did not see flappers when I came to the US. But as I started to look at their hairstyles I realised that what