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.

LADY DIANA MANNERS (Cooper)

Diana Manners was an aristocrat who was expected to behave like the lady she was. Judith tells us she was acting like a teenager even before World War 1.She loved fashion and art and discovered lipstick, nightclubs and alcohol. A celebrity before the word existed – her turning point was the horror of the First World War.

NANCY CUNARD

Nancy Cunard, angular, original, demanding, eccentric, style leader, activist and poet. As the daughter of the exceptionally wealthy heiress Emerald Cunard – she was always a disappointment to her status bound Mother. Rebelling against everything she was the most daring flapper of all.

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.

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@judithmackrell