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Gatsby’s Women: 1920s Evening Dress from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection

Start Date 27 June 2013
End Date 19 October 2013
Venue Museum at Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
Location Los Angeles, USA
Curator Christina Johnson

1920s evening dress was made for movement, and designed with frenetic dances like “The Charleston” in mind. Weighted with beads and sequins, these dresses swung wildly to the sounds of Jazz and clinking cocktails. The flat, two-dimensional silhouette was radically new, and body-baring fashions were all the rage—sleeveless styles showed toned, suntanned arms, while raised hemlines shockingly revealed rouged knees. Enter this short-lived, liberated era that glittered brightly with Flappers and Gangsters before the onset of The Great Depression and World War II.