From 1910s to art deco and bobbed hair

Grande Course des Haies, June 1912; Seeberger brothers

At the end of Edwardian era which was often refereed as the last good time of the upper class and where hedonistic society was modeled itself to suit King’s personal demands, the new air of breeze started to blow that is about to change the upcoming times.

1910 brought a fundamental change in female dress when the rigid bodices where replaced by soft drapery.

Some say it was great deliberator of corset Paul Poiret, but the more accurate is that it was Ballet Russe and production of Sheherazade premiered on June 4, 1910, at the Opéra Garnier in Paris. Costumes by Leon Bakst brought a new wave of orientalism for couturiers that their jockeys would than spread at social events like races or at holiday resorts.

In 1910 famous hairdresser Antoine bobbed the hair of French actress Eva Lavallière. The first women that bobbed their hair were painters’ models at Montparnasse, while famous actresses appeared on stage bobbed during the war, followed in 1917 by fashionable personalities like Gabrielle Chanel and Yola Letellier.

This sign of female protest that started in narrow circle of those in show business and couturiers, later would be popularized by Irene Castle.

In 1911, after turbans and all the harem-wear, Poiret introduced hobble skirt (tight around the ankles) which was widely criticized and although impractical, it became widely popular. Another change that was criticized in those years that even doctors declared as dangerous for the health was V-neck that came to daily life in 1913.
In the wartime years another garment came in fashion- skirt/tunic reaching to the knee that was worn over the very long and tight at the ankle skirt.
After the war, in 1919 flared skirt was replaced with barrel line. It was still long but it hade tubular shape of cylinder and this was the time when waist started to disappear visually erasing the hips and the bust.

Vogue 1919