Life — February 11, 1926 — page 24: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon about 1920s social etiquette and fashion. The caption "The Girl Who Sat at the Ritz Without Showing Her Knees" mocks a woman who maintains exaggerated propriety in public. The scene shows the Ritz Hotel (a luxurious, fashionable venue) where a group of women in 1920s attire are socializing. One woman sits alone on the right, visibly self-conscious about leg exposure—a major concern during the era when hemlines were controversially rising. The satire targets the tension between the era's modernizing fashion standards (shorter skirts) and old-fashioned modesty concerns. By depicting her extreme vigilance about knee-concealment while surrounded by casually dressed socialites, the cartoon ridicules outdated prudishness as absurdly out of step with contemporary women's styles and social norms.