The suffrage movement began their agitations for women’s rights in the first half of the 1800s, but it was after 1900 that the fight became more fierce. From this movement soon arose a broader understanding of women’s equality: Feminism.
The New Woman successfully turned her respectability into a weapon in the fight for change and equality.
The New Woman tried never to take a political stance in order to make her change acceptable. But politics and activism went after her.
The Oriental Style became extremely popular in the first decades of the 1900s and inspired everything that could be designed, including fashion
The New Negro Woman participated in the New Woman’s revolution, but with added challenges linked to prevailing racial stereotypes
The debate over women’s proper dress became quite heated in Victorian times. Women’s ‘rational dresses’ caused much anxiety and concern.
Industrial production and the consumer culture unexpectedly advanced the concept of the New Woman and allowed many women to get in touch with it.
Before the 1900s, the concept of hemline didn’t exist. Only when the length of women’s skirts started to rise the hemline became a site of social debate.
The Gibson Girl is the first incarnation of the New Woman. She was the first woman to seek freedom of expression and mobility. Hers was a soft but very important revolution.
The flapper was the last and more mature incarnation of the New Woman. She was a free, ambitious, pleasure-seeking woman who wanted to be equal to men.
The ensemble separate was the distinctive fashion of the Gibson Girl. It was the first fashion that simplified the accepted women’s clothes and made them lighter and more comfortable.
The Rainy Daisies were a group of New York women who advocated more comfortable clothes for women at the end of the 1890s.