Under Construction Journal Issue 6.1 UNDER CONSTRUCTION JOURNAL 6.1 | Page 23

applying make-up in public. Her stylistic rebellions and how they were turned into a popular, fashionable
identity in the 1920s on the covers of glossy magazines, will be analysed within this work. It is important
to note that this icon was only ever represented as a young, white, middle- to upper-class figure in Vogue
magazine – despite most of the flappers’ style, dancing, and fashions stemming from African-American
culture and its leading figures. However, the focus of this piece will concentrate on the main relationship
between women’s liberated identity construction and consumer capitalism. The flappers’ interesting
relationship with capitalism during the 1920s can in turn engender useful considerations for today’s
feminist entanglements with consumer culture as we enter 2020.
Rebellious Red Lip
The flapper is known for her appearance within popular culture, a figure that adorned advertisements,
the silver screen, and magazines. Due to her liberating attributes, some scholars can deter their focus
from the possibilities of the flapper’s objectification within the media. However, an analysis of the way
the flapper was presented to an audience of women by Vogue reveals how she was objectified and
transformed into a commodity of modern marketing, rather than a figure of the subculture that
challenged gender norms. For instance, Keller (2011) focuses on the flapper’s revolutionary use of a bold
make-up style (such as red lipstick) elsewhere commonly associated with prostitution. By adopting such
a deviant identity and transforming it into a common fashion statement, the use of make-up and norms
of femininity were challenged. Although make-up had been used long throughout history, Keller states
that for middle class, respectable women it was meant to be discreet and applied in private – thus, the
flapper’s iconic ‘public powdering’ (as Keller coins it) is another example of femininity being redefined and
a liberation of previously deviant gender forms. Keller draws attention to many make-up advertisements
that emphasise the flapper’s use of cosmetics. She highlights a ‘Guerlain’ lipstick advertisement from 1927
that reads “it is so decorative that you might just as well include it in your evening bag” despite the fact
that the lipstick is sold as a product that “lasts all night” – therefore the brand was marketing a lipstick
that would not need to be reapplied throughout the evening, but should be seen in public. Thus the
cosmetic industry embraced the flappers’ challenge against traditional forms of femininity, and embraced
their “public powdering”. Keller argues that the act of applying make-up in public allowed women to
embrace “their status as a spectacle in a way that was subversive”. On the other hand, the flapper’s
cosmetic practices can also be viewed as an attempt to emphasise the consumption of make-up. As Keller
displays in her research, the flapper’s consumption of new cosmetics branded her as an object to be seen.
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