For the third year in a row, Lucia was set to be a fairy princess for Halloween. However, yesterday we went to have her bobbed hair trimmed, and then to a consignment shop, where I found a fringed top that was perfect for a little girl's dress-up wardrobe. I told Lucia, "With your bobbed hair and the fringed dress, you could be a flapper!"* I told her only a little bit about the flapper life-style of the 1920's, omitting the seamy details in favor of the Charleston dance and women finally obtaining the legal right to vote. I did tell her that a lot of flappers smoked, and she said, "I will be a flapper who doesn't smoke."Even though a lot of photos of flappers show bare arms and legs, Lucia wears a shirt and leggings with her dress. She is a Practical Flapper. Someday, she will read Bernice Bobs Her Hair, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
*Thanks to James Curry, who, on July 22, 2010, notified me of the broken link and provided me with a new one.
12 comments:
What a lovely picture. And I loved that story, even though I cannot imagine ever cutting my hair, which has been long since I was 13.
GraceAnne: ...Hence the lovely braid on your profile pic.:) I had long hair until I was 14.
Lucia is really growing up isn't she? She looks quite the little lady now! You have taught me two terms I never knew before -"consignment shop" and "flapper". I am sure you could teach me other things too!
Haw! That dress looks exactly like a smaller version of the one worn by my junior prom date.
Lucia makes a lovely flapper! With a lovely bob. I remember being baffled by the vocabulary of flapper style in the book Cheaper by The Dozen (Gilbreth)--the older girls bobbed their hair, wore stockings with clocks on them, and dated "sheiks." What??
She's a gorgeous flapper!
YP: I'm glad to have been able to educate you! What were the short-haired, short-skirted young women of the 1920's called in England? I know they existed because I watched every episode of Upstairs, Downstairs. :)
El Jope Magnifico: That must have been some dress (and some prom date, too). I'm glad I've got 10 years before we have to think about our daughters finding prom dresses.
Anamaria: Ah, sheiks! That's in reference to Rudolph Valentino of "The Sheik" and "The Son of the Sheik" I'm sure. I like to reread the Cheaper By the Dozen books periodically, and should be ready to do so again. Clocks on stockings? Time to do research.
LSM: Thanks! Just wait until you see her Lindy Hop.
So cute! A great costume, although I am biased as that was what I was going to be wearing to a cancelled halloween party. But fortunately I get a second chance at Christmas. Fingers crossed I win my ebay bid on the perfect dress today!
How fun! If someone had introduced me to the concept of historical fashion when I was a child, I would have probably found social studies *way* more interesting.
Oh, cute! Wish I had some loooong clip on earrings for her!
Lucia is beautiful and most certainly F. Scott worthy. This picture makes me want to find my old collection of Fitzgerald stories and re-read Bernice.
She so rocks.
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