A flapper was a young woman in the 1920s who broke with traditional expectations about how women should look and behave. Flappers wore short skirts and bobbed haircuts, listened to jazz music, and danced in ways that shocked their parents' generation. They went to parties, drove cars, and acted with a boldness and independence that women hadn't openly displayed before.

The 1920s were a time of dramatic social change in America. After World War I ended, many young people rejected the strict, formal ways of the Victorian era. Flappers embodied this rebellion. They wore makeup in public (which had been considered improper), smoked cigarettes, and spoke their minds freely. Their fashion was designed for movement and comfort rather than propriety: short hemlines let them dance the Charleston, and they often wore sleeveless dresses that would have scandalized people just a decade earlier.

The flapper became a symbol of the “Roaring Twenties,” representing youth, freedom, and changing attitudes about what women could do and be. Famous flappers included the actress Clara Bow and the writer Zelda Fitzgerald.