Life, 1913-04-03 · page 51 of 52
Life — April 3, 1913 — page 51: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Vogue magazine advertisement**, not political satire. The page promotes Vogue's special Spring Millinery issue (25 cents) by highlighting the problem women faced when buying hats. The central illustration shows an **elaborately decorated women's hat** — the kind fashionable in 1913, featuring feathers, ornamental fabric, and decorative elements. The satire targets **millinery shopping itself**: the ad argues that women waste money on hats because individual hat-shop salespeople give biased advice, and customers lack broader knowledge of available styles. The solution? Buy Vogue's Millinery Number, which showcases designs from Fifth Avenue and Parisian shops, letting women make informed choices at home rather than trusting a single local milliner's recommendations. This reflects genuine 1913 consumer anxiety: hats were expensive status symbols, and fashion magazines positioned themselves as trustworthy guides against exploitation by salespeople.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
APRIL1,1913 PRICE 25 cts LOOK for this I COVER __, NOW ON SALE This is the cover of the Vogue Millinery Number—now to be seen and bought on all news stands. By paying twenty-five cents for this number you can insure yourself against wasting a single penny of your Spring hat money. In your own home, far from the confusion of the milliners, Vogue will spread before you not a few hats from your local stores, but a magnificent display of authoritative models from the best designers of the world. & Paty me Srila wen Ok Wests soon you are going to pay $20, $40, $60 fora Spring hat. For this $20, $40, $60 you will get only a few dollars worth of straw, velvet, ribbons, trimmings—all the rest will go for style and correctness. If your choice is not correct, all your money is Worse than wasted. For no matter how little you pay, the hat you don’t like and don’t wear costs far more than you can afford ! When you buy your hat, then, will you be guided by what your individual milliner tells you is correct ? Will your knowledge be limited only to the opening of ¢ few stores you can visit in person ? THE VOCUE COMPANY. comet Art Rete Or will you take advantage of many weeks work by Vogue’s correspondents and editors, and have before you scores of models selected from the best shops of Fifth Avenue and the Rue de la Paix and endorsed by Vogue as correct ? By the way, the adverlising alone in this Millinery Number is worth more than you pay for the whole num- ber. More advertising—more seasonable advertising— more interesting advertising than you will find in any other woman’s magazine. Vogue not only tells you what to get, but makes it easy for you to get it. Ask your newsdealer for it foday, before his supply is gone. comicbooks.com