Decadance, Flamboyance, Intrigue: The Twenties & Thirties Dissected

The Roaring Twenties were a time of social, cultural and artistic dynamism, a golden era of prosperity before the economic downturn of the Thirties. Here, we take a guided tour through an era that broke the mould.

Words by Chris Sullivan

The Main Players

NOEL COWARD
Playwright, composer, director, wit, actor and singer, Coward defined the English male throughout the Twenties and Thirties. His plays such as Design For Living and Private Lives still run today. A genius indeed.

STEPHEN TENNANT
Best known for his decadent lifestyle, Tennant was a prominent member of the group of aristocrats and socialites known as the 'Bright Young People.' He was the inspiration for Cedric Hampton in Nancy Mitford's, 'Love in A Cold Climate', and Sebastian Flyte in Evelyn Waugh's 'Brideshead Revisited'.

VIVIENNE LEIGH
It was said that if the twice Oscar-winning actress wasn't there the party was square. Wife of Laurence Olivier and star of Gone With The Wind, she was notoriously bi-polar and dealt with her depression by having sex with strangers.

EDWARD PRINCE OF WALES
The biggest trend setter of his day, Edward started the fashion for attached soft shirt collars, pleated trousers, turn-ups, dinner jackets, suede shoes, the soft shouldered Scholte cut, plus fours, black and white correspondent shoes - the list goes on. The most photographed man of his day, he idled his time away in later life embroidering the initials of his wife, Wallis Simpson, on her knickers. A true aesthete.

DOROTHY PARKER POET
Satirist short story writer, Oscar nominated screenwriter and all-round urban wit, Parker wrote for The New Yorker and Vanity Fair and was a member of the Algonquin Round Table. When told of President Calvin Coolidge's death she replied, "How could they tell?"

EDITH SITWELL
A writer, poet and Amazonian standing at six feet tall, Sitwell dressed in long brocade dresses, gold turbans and crowns, while her fingers were covered with ornate gold rings. She thought she was the reincarnation of the Plantagenet Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and together with brothers Osbert and Sacheverell created a literary movement which she was the centre of.

The Scoundrels

BRILLIANT CHANG
Billy 'Brilliant' Chang was a notorious cocaine dealer and womaniser. He hit the headlines in 1922 when a young dancer, Freda Kempton, died of a cocaine overdose after spending the night with him. He then opened the Palm Court Club in Gerrard St, Soho (he was the first Chinese man to open a business in the new Chinatown).

EDDIE MANNING
The 'Heroin King' of Twenties London, pimp and white slaver, Manning was born in Jamaica in 1899. He was described by Fabian of the Yard as the 'worst man in London' although his death certificate stated he was a journalist.

CHARLES 'DARBY' SABINI
King of the racecourse protection gangs, Sabini was born in Saffron Hill, Clerkenwell (AKA Little Italy). His 300-strong firm of razor-blade wielding, gun toting thugs dominated the underworld of the day and he was immortalised as the gangster Colleoni in Graham Greene's novel 'Brighton Rock'.

The Places To Be Seen

THE CAFÉ DE PARIS
Opened in 1924, the Cafe was the favoured hangout for Noel Coward and the theatre set, as well as the Prince of Wales, The Aga Kahn and every visiting film star. Louise Brooks introduced the Charleston to London whist working there in 1924 and Marlene Dietrich was a regular performer.

CIRO'S
A leading society rendezvous, Ciro's was situated in Orange Street, behind the National Gallery. There were also branches in Monte Carlo, Paris and Biarritz. The house band was the unfortunately named seven-piece Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra, headed by Jamaica-born pianist and bandleader Dan Kildare.

THE '43 CLUB'
Run by Irish lass Kate Meyrick, 43 Gerrard Street dodged the draconian licensing laws and served drinks all night. Thanks to a secret escape route to Newport Place, it was favoured by drug dealers and bohemians such as Brilliant Chang, painter Augustus John, sculptor Jacob Epstein and novelist Joseph Conrad. Actress Tallulah Bankhead described the club as "useful for early breakfasts". When asked what time breakfast would be, she would snap back in reply, "about 10pm".

The Parties

THE PARTIES OF 'THE BRIGHT YOUNG PEOPLE'
Delighting in throwing lavish fancy dress parties in stately homes and midnight treasure hunts through central London, the BYP drank like fish, experimented with drugs and drew inspiration from Evelyn Waugh's novel 'Vile Bodies'. Their number included Cecil Beaton (who got his start by photographing them for Vogue) poet laureate John Betjeman, heir Bryan Guinness and The Mitford Sisters.

RIVER PARTIES
Jack May copied the summer regime in New York and opened a summer resort at Maidenhead that became the playground for the rich and famous. The trend for summer venues continued throughout the Twenties in other resorts such as the Café de Paris at Bray, the Monte Carlo Sports Club on Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, and the Karsino at Tagg's Island, Hampton Court.

LE BAL NEGRE
After World War One, travel to France was not only easy but de rigueur for the well heeled set. Some visited Le Touquet, others Biarritz, while many hipsters visited Paris and its most famous soiree, Le Bal Negre at the Theatre Des Champs Élysées. These were parties that epitomised the jazz age.

Men's Fashion

OXFORD BAGS
These extremely wide trousers were worn over the knickerbockers or plus fours favoured by undergraduates at Oxford. Though banned by the colleges, 'the bag' eventually eclipsed the knicker in the hip stakes.

THE CORRESPONDENT SHOE
Initially described as Spectators, these black or brown and white brogues became known for their association with shady characters who were described as correspondents in divorce cases.

THE SCHOLTE CUT
Created by Savile Row tailor Frederick Scholte, the cut featured a soft tailored draped jacket that was often double breasted. The style, initially championed by thespian Jack Buchanan and The Prince of Wales, altered the male shape forever.

Women's Fashion

FLAPPERS
This 'new' breed of young women was personified by actress Louise Brooks. With their bobbed hair and short skirts, they danced to jazz, openly drank and smoked. They also drove cars, advocated women's rights and were sexually flippant. Flapper style made girls look young and boyish: short hair, flattened breasts, a straight-line chemise and close-fitting cloche hat. Their slang, meanwhile, was a mystery to the over-30s. A 'handcuff' was an engagement ring; 'Barney mugging' was sexy while the 'cats meow' or 'bees knees' showed approval.

COCO CHANEL
This was the era when the influence of Coco Chanel really took hold. Her short skirts and casual style were in sharp contrast to the corset fashions popular in the previous decades, and her "little boy" look set a global fashion trend. In 1922 she introduced a perfume, Chanel No. 5, and two years later unveiled her signature cardigan jacket. Her "little black dress" made its debut in 1927.

ELSA SCHIAPARELLI
Combining the idea of classic Greek and Roman design with the essential freedom of movement, she came to represent the younger generation. Her designs left the all-powerful chemise of the flapper behind and concentrated on the body beneath the gown, resulting in elegantly simple dresses.

The Dance Moves

THE CHARLESTON
The first of the freeform dances, The Charleston symbolised freedom and emancipation - or in other words, the domain of the flapper. It entailed kicking one's legs out front and behind while walking back and forth, and was a startling departure from The Waltz and the Foxtrot

THE BLACK BOTTOM
First immortalised in 1925 when Jelly Roll Morton wrote the song 'Black Bottom Stomp', it was introduced to the world by dancer Anne Pennington in 1927 at the Apollo Theatre, Harlem. Consequently, The Black Bottom took over from the Charleston and spread to the UK.

The Best Novels of the Twenties and Thirties

1920s
'The Great Gatsby' by F Scott Fitzgerald
'The Painted Veil' by W Somerset Maughum
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' by DH Lawrence
'Winnie-the-Pooh' by AA Milne
'The Age of Innocence' by Edith Wharton

1930s
'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier
'Vile Bodies' by Evelyn Waugh
'Brighton Rock' by Graham Greene
'Gone With The Wind' by Margaret Mitchell
'Of Mice And Men' by John Steinbeck