Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Staff report
KENT
A new fashion exhibit will take viewers back to the Roaring Twenties.
“Flapper Style: Fashions of the 1920s” will open Sept. 25 at Kent State University Museum’s Broadbent Gallery and run through Sept. 4, 2016. A preview reception will be Sept. 24. Admission is $15; for reservations, call 330-672-0300.
The flapper style epitomized the glamor and decadence of the Roaring Twenties, according to Sara Hume, curator of the museum and the exhibit.
“The term ‘flapper’ refers to the generation of young women who came of age just as World War I ended and shocked the older generation with their short hair and short skirts, their drinking and smoking and swearing,” said Hume. “Flappers faced a world strikingly different from the one their mothers knew, and their clothing reflected this dramatic break with the past.”
Flapper fashion emphasized a slim and boyish silhouette, which evolved alongside women’s changing roles during the World War I era (as documented in the museum’s previous exhibit “The Great War: Women and Fashion in a World at War”).
While the flapper look is well known, the exhibit will look beyond the iconic beaded dress to explore the wide array of influences on 1920s fashion, including sportswear and artistic movements such as Bauhaus and Art Deco. “Flapper Style” features more than 40 pieces, including undergarments, evening wraps, sportswear, menswear and footwear.
Hume will also present a lecture on “Flapper Style” on Oct. 3, as part of Kent State’s Homecoming Weekend festivities. The lecture, which takes place at 12:30 p.m. in the museum’s Murphy Auditorium, is free and open to the public.
The Kent State University Museum is located at 515 Hilltop Drive, at the corner of East Main Street and South Lincoln Street in Kent. It is open on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8:45 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 4:45 p.m. Admission is $5, $4 for seniors and $3 for children under 18. It is free with a Kent State ID and to the public on Sunday. Parking also is free. For information, call 330-672-3450 or go to kent.edu/museum.