The 1920s Era

1920s Makeup: The Birth of the Modern Face

A decade of freedom, bold beauty, and a new ideal — how the 1920s changed makeup forever.

The essayThe Birth of the Modern Face

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1920 – 1929Rebellion & Modernity

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The 1920s Era: The Chronology

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1919
The War and the Face: What Changed Before the Decade Began
The 1920s face is usually explained by the 1920s. Most of what made it possible had already happened by 1919.
1920
The Flapper Face: A Type Invented by Magazines
The flapper was a media figure before she was a person, and the face attributed to her was a commercial specification.
1922
Egyptomania: A Tomb, and the Taste That Preceded It
Carter opened the tomb into a market that was already selling Egypt, and the commercial wave that followed says more about advertising than about Egypt.
1923
The Swivel Tube: The Container That Changed a Habit
The metal case everyone dates to 1923 had been arriving, piecemeal and in several countries, for thirty years.
1925
Colour Typing at the Counter: Selling a System Instead of a Shade
Sorting customers into complexion types solved a retail problem before it solved a cosmetic one.
1927
The Complete Look: When Makeup Became a Single Decision
The decade's real innovation was not any one cosmetic. It was the idea that they were supposed to go together.
1929
What the Crash Did Not Take: Cosmetics After October 1929
The decade ended in a way that should have destroyed a luxury trade. It did not, and the reason is what the decade had made of the product.

In short

In the 1920s cosmetics moved from the dressing table to the handbag: the swivel lipstick tube, the mirrored compact and a film industry with a face to sell turned makeup from a private correction into a public style.

The 1920s Era at a Glance

Dark LipsDeep reds and plums, shaped into a cupid’s bow.
Dramatic EyesKohl-lined, smudged, and newly the focal point.
Pale SkinA powdered, matte complexion was the ideal.
The BobShort hair and a cloche hat framed the face.

In the 1920s Era

Rebellion & Modernity

23 articles across 4 collections

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