Key Points
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...
In 1920, high society magazine The Sketch reportedthat what it termed freak parties were suddenly in vogue with the younger set...
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...
Masquerade and fancy dress parties had long been a feature of urban social life, but the bright young things innovated in that they impressed less through the expense of their outfits and more through their queer implications...
In July 1927,one magazine declaredthat an event attended by Beatons friend Stephen Tennant dressed as the Queen of Sheba and bisexual actress Tallulah Bankhead dressed as a male tennis star was: one of the queerest of all the freak parties ever given in London...
