Life — December 15, 1921 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Bag and Baggage" This is a *Life* magazine cover from December 15, 1921, priced at 15 cents. The image shows a fashionably dressed woman in a cloche hat and plaid skirt, holding luggage and what appears to be travel documents. The caption "Bag and Baggage" is a phrase meaning to depart entirely or leave town completely. In 1921 context, this likely satirizes the era's newfound female mobility and independence—women traveling alone was still relatively novel and socially noteworthy. The woman's modern attire (short skirt, fashionable hat) and purposeful pose with travel gear suggest she represents the "New Woman" of the 1920s, departing on her own terms. The satire probably mocks either this new independence or contemporary anxieties about women's changing social roles during the Jazz Age.