How Did F Scott Fitzgerald Use Fashion Trends In The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby is a story about the glamour and glitz of the 1920s. Various times throughout the novel, the fashion of the characters is mentioned and discussed. Many scholars today use characters from this book to explain fashion during the 1920s. For example, characters such as Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan are used by scholars to discuss what kind of style was popular back then and why. Jay Gatsby, a man who threw extravagant parties, fell deeply in love with Daisy Buchanan. He was very prosperous, but he lost Daisy to Tom Buchanan, a sophisticated and wealthy man, when he went off to war when he was young. This is a romantic story since Gatsby threw all of those parties hoping Daisy would just …show more content…

Sports collections started to become popular as many men and women were starting to participate in new activities. These activities may have included dancing, boating, golfing, and even home entertaining. Women, especially flappers, began to wear dresses that were shorter and drooped in the back and any jewelry that caught light (Jailer-Chamberlain 29-30). This style was optimal for dancing and going out. In The Great Gatsby, women that attended Gatsby’s parties most likely wore this or something similar. When boating, women most often wore the new pantaloons or a loose wrap and when golfing, the wore a tailored shirt with a short skirt. A scholar named Mildred Jailer-Chamberlain also mentions that the 19th amendment allowing women to vote was passed in 1920 (2). This was a time of freedom and more risk-taking for women. Women took risks in fashion during this time; shorter skirts, for example. Not only does women’s fashion coordinate with the Roaring Twenties activities, men’s clothing coordinates as well. Clothes for men specialized in softer tailoring and new garments for sports like polo and golf. LaLonnie Lehman, in her book Fashion in the Time of The Great Gatsby concludes “The introduction of sports clothing allowed both men and women to participate in sports in comfort” (Lehman 9). The scholars, Jailer-Chamberlin and Lehman, both agree that fashion in the 1920s was “expanded to

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