Art Deco vs Flapper
アール・デコ / フラッパー
Art Deco comes from Historical Styles and Flapper from Fashion History. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Art Deco
Stages urban luxury with repeating geometry and a metallic sheen.
Flapper
The 1920s woman who made the body's liberation visible in a straight silhouette, a short hem and bobbed hair, wearing the same period spirit that Art Deco gave to geometry.
| Art Deco | Flapper | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1920s–1930s | 1920s |
| Family | Historical Styles | Fashion History |
| Kind | Style | Style |
| Cues | Symmetry / Radiating lines / Stepped motifs / Gold and black | Straight shift dresses / Bobbed hair / Dropped waists / Beads and fringe |
| Best used for | Giving an event a sense of occasion · Producing instant classic luxury | A dress made for dancing that hangs from the shoulder, not the waist · Naming the mood of a short decade through one silhouette |
| Type | Tall, narrow geometric display type | Geometric capitals used as another decorative band, never as a slogan |
| Composition | Centered, symmetrical composition | Erase the difference between bust and hip and let the hem carry motion |
| Material | Black, gold, ivory; repeated hairlines | Light silk, beadwork, fringe, with the weight gathered at the hem |
| Caution | Too much ornament turns theme-park. Let white space carry the dignity. | Adding fringe over a nipped waist destroys the straight line the whole idea rests on and leaves a costume that merely signals the decade. |