Bare legs - the new trend of the 20th century (source: Fortepan.hu)
Short, knee-length skirts for all ages and “weight” categories and a new, or at least revamped, hat every year: Fashion between the two world wars involved Slovak women, too. Where did they get their clothes, and what did they wear?
The image of Slovak ladies after World War I reflected new rules in the new state.
“Women in the Czechoslovak Republic got suffrage as early as 1919,” Zuzana Šidlíková of the Slovak Design Centre said. “They started studying and could even start working, although usually only until they married and had children. They started doing sports, too.”
And then came the new dance, the Charleston, which was expressed by free movement. While shortly after WWI, skirts reached the ankle, in the mid-1920s, they were shortened to just below the knees.
“In a single year, everything changed suddenly – all the inhibitions disappeared,” said Šidlíková. In 1925, all foreign magazines were showing what was taboo until then: the beauty of women’s legs.
