Life — April 22, 1920 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Furred and Feathered" — Life Magazine Satire This story satirizes wealthy women's obsession with fur coats through dialogue between animals (a seal and bird) observing humans. The narrative mocks the justifications women use for wearing animal pelts—claiming they "improve" appearance or are "essential." The two illustrations show: (1) a well-dressed matron confronted by children about a dead seal's coat, and (2) a man at a doorway, apparently discussing the deferred-payment plan for acquiring furs. The satire targets Gilded Age consumerism and the disconnect between fashionable ladies and the animals killed for their vanity. By giving voice to the seal and bird questioning human "logic," Life ridicules both the practice and the rationalizations offered to justify it—a common early-20th-century critique of materialism and animal exploitation.