Life, 1923-09-13 · page 19 of 36
Life — September 13, 1923 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical comic strip mocking fashion advertising and male vanity. It follows a well-dressed man obsessed with expensive, carefully coordinated clothing—Siberian wool sweaters ($36), matched underwear in "pale bisque," pearl shirt studs, and designer robes ($75). The joke: Despite claiming to despise the "futility" of caring about clothes, he remains enslaved to fashion consumption. When he spots a woman in a vacuum cleaner advertisement and falls in love with her simple, practical nature, he resolves to change—but immediately buys an expensive designer robe ($75) anyway. The satire targets *Life* magazine's own fashion advertising industry: men claim to reject materialism while obsessively purchasing status goods. The irony is unresolved—he's trapped in consumerism even while recognizing its emptiness. The cartoon mocks both male pretension and the magazine's complicity in promoting unnecessary luxury goods to readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
) > + { 4 HE TRUTH WAS, HE DECIDED IN HE WELL-DESIGNED SWEATER OF BERIAN WOOL ($36), SO POPULAR MONG THE beau monde oF THE ENNIS COURTS, HE WAS TIRED OF IS WORK. CLOTHES, CLOTHES! THE FUTILITY OF IT ALL, VITH HER FOR INSPIRATION A MAN OULD RISE ABOVE ANYTHING, HE RI LECTED IN THE WELL-TAILORED C UME THAT Is de rigueur AMONG HOUGHTFUL MEN, FOR AN AFTERNOON ON THE WATER. 3UT AS HE REACHED HER iATE A MAN RUSHED IN CRYING, “MARY, I'VE GOT THE RAISE! $45 a WEEK! AND ALL BECAUSE YOU | MADE ME TAKE THE cou IN ADVANCED PLUMBERY BY MAIL!” of the Fashion Pages EVEN THE THOUGHT THAT HIS UNDERWEAR AND HANDKERCHIEF WERE MATCHED IN PALE BISQUE RGETTE, AS IS CORRECT FOR THE MORNING STROLL ON THE AVENUE, FAILED TO CHEER HIM, 1 THAT NIGHT HE PUT PEARL STUDS INTO HIS SHIRT 1D AD OF THE STELY WROUGHT PLAT- STUDS IN VOGUE WITH MEN OF TASTE. HE WAITED. TO HEAR NO MORE. SO SHE W MARRIED, IF ONL HOW DIFFERENT THINGS MIGHT HAVE BEEN, WITH HEAVY HEART HE TRUDGED HOME- WARD, THEN HE SAW HER, IN AN AD- VERTIS! SIMPLE LOOKED AS SHE PUSHED THE DAINTY LITTLE VACUUM CLEANER. 17 MENT ON PAGE 83. HOW HOW REFRESHING SHE GLUYAS WILUAS 12 NEVER HAD HE MADE SUCH A MISTAKE BEFORE. HE WAS REAL IN LOVE. BUT SHE WOULD DESPISE A MAN WHOSE LIFE ¥ CLOTHES. 18 BRUSHING AWAY A TEAR HE SLIPPED INTO THE DISTIN IVELY FIGURED LOUNGE ROBE OF JACQUELINE CREPE ($75) WHICH IS FINDING FAVOR WITH THE WELL-DRESSED MAN THIS SEASON, comicbooks.com