Glamorized, mythologized and demonized - the women of the 1920s prefigured the 1960s in their determination to reinvent the way they lived. Flappers is in part a biography of that restless generation: starting with its first fashionable acts of rebellion just before the Great War, and continuing through to the end of the decade when the Wall Street crash signal led another cataclysmic world change. It focuses on six women who between them exemplified the range and daring of that generation's spirit. Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka were far from typical flappers. Although they danced the Charleston, wore fashionable clothes and partied with the rest of their peers, they made themselves prominent among the artists, icons, and heroines of their age. Talented, reckless and wilful, with personalities that transcended their class and background, they re-wrote their destinies in remarkable, entertaining and tragic ways. And between them they blazed the trail of the New Woman around the world.
In Flappers, Judith Mackrell portrays six women of the early 20th century who became leading ladies of a fashion trend that gave us the Flapper - Josephine Baker, Tamara de Lampicka, Nancy Cunard, Diana Cooper, Tallulah Bankhead, and Zelda Fitzgerald.
To be honest, I had not heard of some of them. I had a fair knowledge of Josephine Baker, Nancy Cunard, and Zelda Fitzgerald, but had not heard of Diana Cooper or Tallulah Bankhead and was fascinated to find out that Tamara de Lempicka was the artist that created some of paintings that I have come to associate with some of my favourite book covers.
Apart from very detailed insights into the life of each woman, Mackrell's book does a fabulous job at revealing the social and historical context of each character. Each woman came from a different background, and struggled with different circumstances to rise to fame. This was fascinating. What was not so fascinating was that a lot of Mackrell's writing seemed to be concerned with the love lives of each woman.
Appropriating the words of Zelda, some chapters grated on me because it seemed that
‘All they talk about is sex,’ [...], ‘sex plain, striped, mixed and fancy.’
Still, this was a fascinating read about a time and a fashion movement that has left its mark on generations to come.
