Radio Gorgeous

FLAPPERS we all know their image of a girl with bees stung lips dancing the Charleston with a cigarette holder and a feather in her hair….. that was the fashion – but who were the women who created this image? Who lived the life to the full – who lived so dangerously, creatively, wildly, Sexually, experimentally. The women who Judith explores in her book Flappers were passionate women who lived on the edge – they had no role models they were the first generation who collectively lived like free modern women…with no limits.

TAMARA de LEMPICKA

Was an artist whose  art deco  paintings epitomise the 1920’s particularly her most famous painting “Tamara in the Green Bugatti.”  She was as interesting and glamorous as her fabulous paintings. Tamara was a Russian Aristocrat who adored hats and sex with men and women, trawling the bars of Paris at night looking for lovers the seedier the better.

TALLULAH BANKHEAD

Tallulah Bankhead the American actress who makes Madonna look tame – she was a complete attention seeker who used the term flapper to create her image and help her career. She was witty and foul mouthed and famously always stripped down to her underwear on stage. She would do cart wheels down the street with no knickers on and throw the most wild parties.

“my father warned me about men and booze but never said anything about women and cocaine” Tallulah

ABOUT JUDITH MACKRELL

Judith is the Dance Critic for The Guardian.  She has mostly written books about dance including: Out of Line: The Story of British Dance, Reading Dance and Bloomsbury Ballerina. She lives in Hackney with her family.

BUY FLAPPERS
@judithmackrell