Women's oversized fashion in the United States since the 1920s

Oversized fashion, distinct from plus-sized fashion, consists of clothing and other accessories that are larger than normal and reflect some sort of attitude, message, or trend of the period at hand. While oversized fashion trends from the 1920s to the turn of the century vary from decade to decade, there are many overarching themes that have been expressed during the past one hundred or so years. Masculinity, for example, has played a large role in many of the underlying communications of the fashions, although virility is manifested differently in the clothing depending on the era. Oversized fashion production, furthermore, runs largely parallel with the states of the American and global economies. Modernly, oversized fashion has taken on a new form - primarily in the realm of oversized accessories.

The 1920s were marked by a post-war aesthetic. After World War I, the fashion world experienced a great switch: from tight corsets and hobble skirts—to shapeless, oversized, and sparsely decorated garments. Women began to wear more comfortable fashions, including blousy skirts and trousers. Further, this era gave birth to sportswear fashion. Sportswear, previously recognized as America’s main contribution to fashion, consisted of a casual more relaxed style.Coco Chanel, known as the first modern dressmaker, made one of the greatest contributions to style in the 1920s: the two-piece dress. She created two-piece dresses out of jersey (fabric), a comfortable stretchy fabric. The American public was receptive, embracing this relaxed style, which was perfect for the active woman on the go. The combination of these new ideas yielded this loosely fitted, modernized style.

The "boyish figure", moreover, became a prevalent trends of the era, with shapeless silhouettes and dropped waistlines giving a more masculine look to the female figure. The emphasis on a flattened chest revolutionized the construction of undergarments. Along with this new silhouette, 1920s fashions were further modernized by the coming of a new generation of sewing-machines, each with an individual electric motor, enabling designers to create more oversized fashions, while saving time and resources.

In contrast to the "boyish figure" were the types of hats and accessories women wore in "the roaring twenties".Flapper dresses were juxtaposed with oversized hats, often trimmed with large bows, feathers, ribbons, or sequins. Furthermore, bold headbands were often worn to compliment women's customarily shorter hair lengths. Since a lot of women's fashion from this decade were quite masculine in style, many women adorned them with accessories that were rather feminine.

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