What Were the Hottest Pop Culture Trends in the 1910s?

As a new decade opens, it welcomes people with a new set of unforgettable events and trends that trademarked those specific years. For instance, the roaring 20s welcomed us with economic prosperity. The 30s greeted us with the Great Depression, but it also had given Hollywood golden age. Meanwhile, the 40s began with sorrows and patriotism as the second World War 2 stepped in.

In the following years, the 50s introduced us to a new era of fashion and entertainment. While the 60s gave us bold fashion trends, the 70s  offered us free-spirited years and adventure. The 80s presented the world its awkward yet nostalgic years, and the 90s  gave us several unforgettable and notable trends.

Prior to these years, the initial years of 1900 gave us many exciting pop cultures, especially in the 1910s. Since then, throughout the following years up to the beginning of the 21st century, the cultural trends of the pioneering years have exposed us to various pop culture that had shaped our current years.

Below were the Hottest Pop Culture Trends in the 1910s.

Technology

During this era, several known inventors have stridden their way in various disciplines. People of these years had luckily witnessed the achievements in fields like electrical engineering. By the 1910s, many houses had been wired up with electricity that they were able to use vacuum cleaners as well as washing machines.  Also, telephones were part of the hottest commodity during those years. Without the aid of radio, people initially rely on telephones or newspapers for news and information.

Aside from that, as the year 1910 was about to step in, inventions like the airships have made its historic flight. Not only aerial transportations were developed at that time, but also land vehicles. Two years before 1910, Henry Ford had introduced his automobile, the Model T. Thus, making automobiles available to the masses for the first time.

Following that, Chemistry had also advanced in 1910. In fact, it was within that year that the first air-conditioning units and electric refrigerators were invented. Moreover, this era had provided us with further inventions, including escalators, cellophane, teabags, instant coffee, and disposable razor blades.

Music, Arts, and Entertainments

Music sheets
Music sheets

In the early 1900s, opera was the most popular in the music category. Families then gathered to sing songs together, and musical sheets were produced and sold in this era. Aside from that, Barbershop Quartets also performed for opera recording and for audiences every Saturday night. Beyond the entertainment brought by music, Vaudeville also had a memorable part during this time.

Meanwhile, Arts in this era were deemed as the little renaissance. Artists from this period have moved away from the established European traditions and created their new approach to creating art. Several artists have advanced their contents from various subjects like religion, nature, to more informal subjects. Some of them had painted subjects that were considered insignificant, including card players, boxing matches, and other subjects deemed as unimportant.

Furthermore, film industries have begun to offer short films ranging from five to ten-minutes and were shown in storefront theatres. Subsequently, in the following years, these short films were then made into longer films, showcased in a much larger platform. Consequently, film productions had increased. Theatres have changed, and several contemporary plays were produced.

Literature during that time had also flourished most notably poetry. Alongside that, small magazines that featured poetry also grew readership. With the entrance of World War 1, the newspaper had been responsible for delivering news to the public.

Home Interior Designs

A photograph of an open door
A photograph of an open door

During the 1910s, home designs called for an airy living space. Overstuffed furniture and small, dark rooms were then condemned and considered tasteless. Consequently, architect Frank Lloyd Wright introduced new living spaces in his home plan. In the older version of homes, separate rooms were made for activities like a room for spending time with family, a sitting room or parlor room for special guests, a music or sewing room, and a place to keep books, the library. However, in the newly modernized homes in the 1910s, these rooms were combined to cater to several purposes and were made into a spacious living room. As well as that, the kitchen was also doubled up to serve as an informal dining room.

Furthermore, the new interiors replaced dull and old fashioned-design. Bold colors replaced heavily patterned wallpapers. Also, heavy draperies were then outdated by a lightweight window trim.

Fashion

Assorted clothes on a rack
Assorted clothes on a rack

During that decade, women had increasingly taken jobs as office typists, receptionists, and secretaries. Also, about 2.4 million women had filled the jobs that were initially done by men who joined the military during the war. As this new era came in, women also had learned how to drive, enjoyed ballroom and sport. With that, they were required to wear a functional yet conservative fashion. Frilly dresses then started to be replaced by a fashion fit for an industrial worker. Outfits that weighed ten pounds and sweeping the floor were eradicated and replaced by simple and light-weighted clothing.

On the other hand, men’s suits were slimmed down, shoulder pads were thinned, trousers are more fitted, and vests were worn along with neckwear. Also, high button shoes were replaced by oxford tie shoes. Hats changes with seasons, and suspenders were replaced by belts.