Last week I had the amazing opportunity to participate in a pageant celebrating the roaring twenties! It was so fun, but a lot harder for me because I am used to creating outfits that belong in a time completely different than this. If you want to read about how I came up with my look, keep reading!

Obviously for this pageant, I wanted to look like I walked straight out of the twenties! And I wanted to be a Flapper, to boot. The only problem with this is that these days, it is difficult to find clothing that looks authentically 20’s. (And don’t even get me started on getting actual vintage flapper clothing).

See, what we think of today as stereotypical parts to the flapper costume, such as short tiny dresses, fringe everywhere, bright colors, and fishnet stockings are not what they Wore at all! What women wore back then was in reality quite boxy, darkly colored, and overall a lot more conservative than how we seem to remember it.

Since there’s not a lot of clothing out there that accurately resembles what a woman out of the 1920’s would wear, I tried my best to keep it authentic, but of course there were some discrepancies! We will go from bottom to top, because there was a lot of thought that went into this look. Let’s start!

The Hair

Doing my hair was the greatest difficulty I faced when creating this look. The short hair and the finger wave was the hallmark of the twenties, and I am not experienced! Believe it or not, the decades I usually like to draw style from are completely different.

I watched and rewatched YouTube tutorials, to no avail. I read articles. But alas, it didn’t turn out exactly like I had hoped. If you want to see an awesome tutorial take a look at Jen’s version!

Basically though, twenties hair uses something thick like a pomade or a mousse, and then is sculpted in to waves using a comb and your fingers. Everything is set using alligator clips and wave clips.

Was mine perfect? No. But I was happy with how it turned out, especially since it was my first time. To top it off, I wore a beaded, peacock feathered headband, which killed two birds with one stone. One, it gave a characteristic flapper feel. And two, it covered up a lot of my hair that I wasn’t pleased with.

The Makeup

As a makeup artist, this was the real fun part! The twenties were the first decade women started to have fun with makeup, and so the result was a dramatic, almost painted on look. Everything was also based off of the Hollywood starlets at the time.

A good foundation for a twenties look is a light, pale, matte base. A rouge in a pink-y hue is then applied, but only to the apples of the cheeks. Make sure to apply in a circular motion and don’t blend it upward!

Next are the brows and the eyes. The brows are probably the craziest part of my flapper look! They are thin and arched, and extend way past the natural brow on the outside. I used It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under-Eye Concealer and said bye to my brows! I concealed over all of them and drew them on with a thin eyeliner pencil.

For eyeshadow, women often wore a dark blue or grey color that started at the lashline and blended up, with some black eyeliner. That’s exactly what I did, and then applied mascara and false eyelashes to the top side.

Wearing gals eyelashes wouldn’t have been realistic, but my eyes are very almond shaped and I wanted to really get the round doe-eyes shape that every flapper wanted.

Last but not least, the lips. Throughout the twenties there were lots of different colors, but the one that stands out to a lot of people is the deep, dark, almost wine colored red. I wore that! And the shape matters too. Flappers wanted their lips to look “bee stung”: rounded and nipped in at the sides with an exaggerated Cupid’s bow.

The Dress

With all the dresses on the market, I thought finding a flapper dress would be a breeze! Most of the dresses are extremely short and too bright and glitzy.

I went for a dark blue(a popular color)beaded number with fringe on the bottom!

It wasn’t crazily accurate but it wasn’t too far fetched, and it’s about as authentic as you can get these days. Sadly when it arrived it barely covered my booty. And I am not about that life! I put on a black pencil skirt underneath it and no one was the wiser.

I did like the dress and besides it being short it did fit me well. It wasn’t my favorite dress, but I do think that my body type is more suited to the forties or fifties silhouette.

The Shoes and Stockings

I have to get this out of the way… FISHNET TIGHTS ARE NOT ACTUALLY TWENTIES. Sorry, it needed to be said because everyone kept recommending them. But that isn’t what the everyday woman wore! Only prostitutes would have worn that.

I had an awesome pair of darker nude stockings that would have looked perfect but they gave out and ripped when I put them on. Tragic! I was in a pinch, and decided to do something that actual flappers did all the time. They’d wear black stockings and roll them down to below the knee.

It’s absolutely scandalous, I know! But it worked, and they held up well through the whole competition.

The shoes were a low, solid t-strap heel. Navy blue, to match the dress! T-straps were worn a lot in the twenties and I wanted to be less risqué with the shoes since my stockings already have off a flirty feel!

The Accessories

Before the 1920s jewelry was a financial decision, and a statement of wealth. Once the 1920s hit, though, it became more about fashion and expressing yourself. And so no flapper look is complete without jewelry!

I wore a long strand of fake pearls, which were extremely popular at the time. Girls loved to wear them in fun colors and throw them messily on. They wore pearl bracelets too, but I didn’t.

For earrings I went bold and got some bling emerald teardrop earrings. They look accurate to the twenties, but also have that timeless look so you may be seeing them again on me.

My purse was won I got in my goody bag at Miss Pinups & Pooches, a gorgeous black beaded clutch from Banned Retro. So beautiful! And I received oodles of compliments on the little showstopper.

I really wanted to like elegant, so black gloves it was! Also, it was freezing, and I am a desert rat. The gloves kept me warm as well as glamorous.

To top all of it off, I held a cigarette holder, because all the cool girls are doing it. Kidding! It is NOT good for you, but in the twenties it was the hip thing, so I had mine out the whole time. Don’t worry though, there was no smoking actually involved.

And that was my whole flapper look, head to toe! Oh goodness, it was out of my comfort zone, but it was a grand time. I really want to perfect my finger waves so look forward to seeing that later.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure to scroll down and enter your email so you can be notified every time I post! You can also take a look at my experience at the Roarin Twenties pageant, or my advice on how to choose an outfit for a pinup pageant.

Until next time!

SURE LOVE YA! — Miss Aphrodite Darling

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