The typical twenties hemline is a common misconception, people often think that the hemlines were shortened just below or to above the knee, but in reality it didn't get any shorter from 1910s it was still a mid-calf length hem. Often times there was an "elusive hemline", while by the end of the twenties some women were showing their knees, overall the hem line was short in some places and long in others to help ease the older generations into the idea of women showing their knees in public. Women also cut their hair shorter, into a bob, and often wore cloches. Cloches are hats that fit tight around the head and often have an accent piece on them, such as a pin or ribbon. Due to the change in clothing and hairstyles there was also a change in women's accessories. For the longest time all women wanted gold jewelry, but now gold was out of style and silver was in. Silver was not only more accessible to all different kinds of people, because it was cheaper, but it also was much easier to make other metals look like silver, such as zinc or nickel. Women also began to make putting on makeup a more public act. Before the 1920s, women would go to the powder room to freshen up their make up, now women would apply lipstick or powder in public. They would often apply even at a restaurant or a dance club. These short skirts, new hair styles, and accessories defined the decade.
Now women were participating in sports such as golf, swimming, tennis. Many designers started to create clothing for women to use when participating but they weren’t just for function of course they also had to be fashionable. Coco Chanel created special pants for boating they were long, loose, and flowy, and were also used as a sort of "beach pajama" many people used after swimming or when they were lounging on the beach. Knit maillots soon came out for swimming they were very similar to one-piece bathing suits that we wear today except they came much lower down the thigh, typically around mid- thigh and were often were worn with different accessories, for example, belts, hats, or beach booties. Women’s clothing for tennis and golf were fairly similar, typically a pleated skirt with a cardigan sweater.
The ideal flapper had an extremely flat chest, similar to that of a man. Dresses became more and more mannish every year, especially after 1918 because women had been in the workplace and wanted to be seen as more serious candidate for jobs or as a good worker. Men were typically considered those things so it was only natural that this is what designers started to create for the working woman. Female clothes became looser and had less shape they would almost be box cuts womanly curves were virtually eliminated. High fashion had always been for the wealthy, and only the wealthy, now new fabrics were being used and less expensive stones to make fashion more accessible to more people. With the new style, everything was flashier now so it would have been near impossible to have this new type of jewelry made out of real stones. Now with the simpler dress patterns women could even make flapper inspired dresses at home.