What kind of clothing did people wear in the 1920's?

High fashion until the twenties had been for the richer women of society. But because construction of the flapper's dress was less complicated than earlier fashions, women were much more successful at home dressmaking a flapper dress which was a straight shift. It was easier to produce up to date plain flapper fashions quickly using flapper fashion Butterick dress patterns.

Recorded fashion history images after the twenties do reflect what ordinary women really wore rather than just the clothing of the rich. Gradually by degrees the skirt lengths on dresses gave the illusion of being first long and then shorter with dipping, scalloped and handkerchief hemlines in floating fabrics. It was only in 1925 that skirts rose 14 to 16 inches from the ground making the shorter hemline we associate with the era.