Life — April 27, 1916 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "Upon Viewing an Easter Display in a War Year" This satirical poem by Wallace Irwin critiques European fashion during World War I. The illustrated border shows stylishly dressed women in extravagant Easter outfits, creating ironic contrast with the poem's content. The satire targets: - **French and German combatants** for continuing fashion concerns during wartime (French modistes trimming helmets, Germans designing patterns) - **American fashion industry** profiting from European war by creating "new effects" and copying styles - **Women's fashion** during wartime—exaggerated silhouettes, fur coats, puffed skirts, checkered suits, and elaborate hats—presented as frivolous given soldiers' trenches The closing line, "We are thinking up the fashions for ourselves," suggests Americans are commercializing European suffering. The joke: while Europe bleeds, fashionable society obsesses over hemlines and ankles.