Skip to content
1981
1-2: The Reviews Issue
  • ISSN: 2050-0726
  • E-ISSN: 2050-0734

Abstract

African animal fur patterns were part of the flapper’s wardrobe. Fur trade publications and the fashion press specifically linked leopard to flapper fashion. Wearing leopard fur connected the modern woman to the wilds of jazz dance and sexual promiscuity for which she was known. Celebrity flappers like Nancy Cunard wore leopard. Illustrators like John Held Jr. made giraffe fur patterns part of this flapper look, though giraffe was short-lived and had more aristocratic and graceful connotations than leopard. African leopard, giraffe, gazelle and zebra were all linked to the new clothing category called sportswear. These furs were sometimes called jungle furs to exoticize their origins in Africa and connect them to the popularity of jazz, ‘jungle’ music. The fur patterns eventually became part of the exotic pyjama, thus promoting an early form of sportswear pant being worn outside the home for the beach by the end of the twenties.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • The University of Rhode Island’s Center
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00167_1
2023-01-18
2026-04-22

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alexander, H. (2018), Leopard: Fashion’s Most Powerful Print, London: Lawrence King Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Anon. (1919), ‘Princeton girl shines’, New York Times, 9 November, p. S1.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Anon. (1921), ‘Admiration rather than ammunition’, Vogue, 1 November, p. 73.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Anon. (1922a), ‘Fashions: Short coats and plaided tweeds outdoors favorites’, New York Times, 31 December, p. D78.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Anon. (1922b), ‘Varied is the repertoire of a Paris sleeve’, Harper’s Bazaar, October, p. 71.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Anon. (1923a), American Album of Fur Novelties, April, p. 12.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Anon. (1923b), American Album of Fur Novelties, October, p. 6.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Anon. (1923c), ‘Fashion of the hunting season; Sport togs for the horsewoman’, New York Times, 11 November, p. 12.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Anon. (1923d), Franklin Simon & Co Advertisement ‘The vogue of lounging pajamas’, Vogue, 1 December, p. 3.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Anon. (1923e), ‘The jungle and sportswear’, Women’s Wear, 13 January, p. 26.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Anon. (1923f), ‘Post-cards from Venice and Deauville’, Vogue, 1 October, p. 74.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Anon. (1924a), ‘Fashion: Clothes for trips by trains or ships’, Vogue, 1 January, p. 44.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Anon. (1924b), Fur Trade Review, November, pp. 117, 120.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Anon. (1924c), ‘Snow land boasts its own fashions’, New York Times, 20 January, p. 129.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Anon. (1925a), Fur Trade Review, March, pp. 117, 120.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Anon. (1925b), ‘Un Peu de Mythologie’, Art Gout Beauté, February, p. 13.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Anon. (1925c), ‘The woollen shawl, the knitted coat, and the pyjama are smart for Palm Beach’, Vogue, 15 January, pp. 5455.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Anon. (1926a), American Album of Fur Novelties, February, p. 8.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Anon. (1926b), American Album of Fur Novelties, September, p. 8.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Anon. (1926c), America Album of Fur Novelties, November, p. 8.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Anon. (1926d), ‘London stores pass judgment’, Fur Age Monthly, July, p. 50.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Anon. (1926e), ‘London stores pass judgment on pelts that Paris presents’, Fur Age Monthly, July, p. 50.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Anon. (1926f), ‘Vote for Held!’, Life, November, p. 13.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Anon. (1928), ‘Carefully chosen details are needed in travelling’, Harper’s Bazaar, March, p. 120.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Anon. (1932), ‘Osa Johnson slicks up jungle sport wardrobe’, New York World-Telegram, 11 March, p. 32.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Anon. (1935), ‘Santa Anita, Miami, Taxco, Rio’, Vogue, 1 December, pp. 6061.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Anon. (1939a), ‘Lilly Daché leopard handbag’, Harper’s Bazaar, October, p. 100.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Anon. (1939b), ‘12 women get style awards’, New York Times, 19 March, section 2, p. 4.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Bachrach, M. (1937), Fur: A Practical Treatise, New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Belden, A. L. (1917), The Fur Trade of America and Some of the Men Who Made and Maintain It: Together with Furs and Fur Bearers of Other Continents and Countries and Islands of the Sea, New York: Peltries Pub. Co.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Bohleke, K. J. (2014), ‘Mummies are called upon to contribute to fashion: Pre-Tutankhamun Egyptian revivalism in dress’, Dress, 30:1, pp. 93115.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Bolton, A. (2004), Wild: Fashion Untamed, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Brown, S. A. (1937), The Negro in American Fiction, Washington, D.C.: Associates in Negro Folk Education.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Burroughs, Edgar Rice (1914), Tarzan of the Apes, UK: A.C. McClurg & Co.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Chisholm, A. (1979), Nancy Cunard: A Biography, New York: Knopf.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Covarrubius, M. (1929), ‘A history of the screen’, Vanity Fair, November, p. 63.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Fass, P. S. (1977), The Damned and Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. ‘gazelle’ (n.d.), Oxford English Dictionary Online, https://www-oed-com.uri.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/77231?redirectedFrom=gazelle#eid. Accessed 7 February 2021.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Grossman, W. and Bonnell, L. (2009), ‘Man Ray, African art and the modernist lens’, African Arts, 42:3, pp. 7281.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Guillaume, G. (1987), ‘L’exposition Colonial Et Son Influence’ (‘The colonial exposition and its influence’), in G. Guillaume (ed.), Paris-Couture: Années Trente (Paris-Couture: The Thirties), Paris: Edition Paris-Musées et Société de l’Histoire du Costume, pp. 22526.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Hannel, S. (2005), ‘The influence of jazz on fashion’, in L. Welters and P. Cunningham (eds), Twentieth Century American Fashion, New York: Berg, pp. 5777.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Harris, R. G. (1929), ‘In the galleries’, New York Times, 1 December, p. 168.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Majer, M. (2010), ‘La Mode à la girafe: Fashion, culture, and politics in Bourbon Restoration France’, Studies in the Decorative Arts, 17:1, pp. 12361.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Martin, R. (1998), American Ingenuity: Sportswear, 1930s–1970s, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. McElroy, G. C. (1990), Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710–1940, San Francisco, CA: Bedford Arts.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Merkin, R. (1968), The Jazz Age as Seen through the Eyes of Ralph Barton, Miguel Covarrubias, and John Held, Jr., Providence, RI: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Rapazzini, F. (2005), ‘Elizabeth du Gramont, Natalie Barney’s “eternal mate”’, South Central Review, 22:3, pp. 631.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Sauro, C. (2005), ‘Pajamas’, in V. Steele (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 1315.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Steele, V. (1985), Fashion and Eroticism: Ideals of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. von Sacher-Masoch, L. R. (1900), Venus in Furs, unknown publisher. Accessed via the Hathi Trust.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Warner, P. C. (2008), ‘The Americanization of fashion: Sportswear, the movies and the 1930s’, in L. Welters and P. Cunningham (eds), Twentieth Century American Fashion, New York: Berg, pp. 7998.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Weldon, J. (2018), Fierce: The History of the Leopard Print, New York: Harper Design.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Wilcox, R. T. (1951), The Mode in Furs, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Wishner, L. (2008), ‘Modern maenads and the feline mystique: Pin-up girls and burlesque queens in leopard costume, 1940–1960’, Abstract, The Costume Society of America 34th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 22 May.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Woolman Chase, E. (1933), ‘Vogue’s eye view: Of the zoo’, Vogue, 1 February, p. 21.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00167_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00167_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): exoticism; flapper fashion; giraffe; leopard; pyjama pant; zebra
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test