09/11/2025
Artistry! 💗 https://www.facebook.com/share/19fgL4UqrS/?mibextid=wwXIfr
In the 1920s, there was a flapper fad of hand painting knees.
Below is an article from The Des Moines Register from August 2, 1925:
“What is more appealing to the eye than a hand-painted knee? The answer, of course, is two hand-painted knees. And the world may expect from now on to see Flapperia’s dimpled knees exhibiting a painted pansy or a bleeding heart, or any other design of their choice.
This painting of the epidermis in the region of milady’s knees is predicted and advocated by Mrs. Ruth J. Maurer, beauty culture expert who has brought the question up for the approval of 500 beauty specialists meeting in Chicago. ‘It is an odd and beautiful fashion,’ Mrs. Maurer declares. ‘Hand-painted pictures on the knees are intriguing. Some of the designs are simple, some elaborate. Some girls prefer a flower or a group of blossoms of startling colors. Others like a portrait or a little landscape.”
The fad disappeared with the Great Depression but made a comeback in the 1960s. According to an article from 1966 in The Frederick News Post, a woman painted her knees so frequently that she could “put it on faster than face makeup.” The men who were interviewed in the same article reportedly said, “I like to see just plain legs,” or “I think it’s rather ridiculous.”
