Second panel of The Freak Merchants or, the Bright Young People by Arthur Wallis Mills, published in Punch (1930). They featured such stock characters as the muscled giant and the bearded lady, some of whom became celebrities in their own right. These displays, horrifying from a 21st century point of view, were a popular element of circuses at the time. One such man was Quentin Crisp, whose memoir The Naked Civil Servant (1968) was dramatised as a pioneering TV drama.Īnother source of inspiration was the freak show. These styles were often worn as fancy dress, but they borrowed looks from marginalised queer communities such as feminine-styled queer men, some of whom made a living by selling sexual services. But suddenly there was a circle who were keen to try out new looks, no matter how bizarre – or queer-looking – the results. Black was the default colour for formal occasions and tweed for informal settings. Until this point, menswear had been heavily circumscribed. In 1920, high society magazine The Sketch reported that what it termed “freak parties” were suddenly in vogue with the younger set.īefore the war, articles had appeared condemning unusual styles as “freak fashions”, but suddenly “ freaking” was all the rage. The “things” took partying seriously and paid great attention to their outfits. They were often socially privileged, many of them were queer and their antics were widely followed in the media with a mixture of horror and fascination. One of these was Cecil Beaton, the future celebrity photographer, who delighted in cross-dressing both on stage and off.īeaton became part of a set of high society socialites who were known as the “ bright young things”.

Daring male university students started wearing makeup. There was also a new market for novels, such as Radcylffe Hall’s banned book The Well of Loneliness (1928) that focused on, rather than merely hinted at, queer lives. In Britain, women over 30 had finally been given the vote and there was widespread concern about the new hedonism of their younger “flapper” sisters. Established regimes were toppling across Europe. This drew on a subculture that had existed for decades, perhaps centuries, but after the first world war gender-bending fashions became front page news. The 1920s brought about a rise in androgynous fashion among a high society set that broke boundaries and caused controversy.

Naked news hedonism