Life, 1926-04-01 · page 31 of 46
Life — April 1, 1926 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* satirizes early 20th-century fashion trends and social anxieties, particularly around women's hosiery. **"When That Aprille"** (top poem): A humorous love poem where the narrator's romantic gesture—holding an umbrella over a woman named Stella—is undercut by his discomfort (wet collar, sloshing shoes, dampened dignity). The satire mocks the performative nature of chivalry. **"Ain't Legs Nature?"** (main article): The piece ridicules the recent fashion trend of flesh-colored or nearly invisible stockings designed to create the illusion of bare legs. It traces this evolution from earlier "flesh-colored hose" through "Nude" and "French Nude" styles. The satire highlights the absurdity of women's fashion anxieties—particularly on golf courses—where choosing stocking colors becomes a serious practical and aesthetic dilemma (grass-green for putting, amber for specific holes, etc.). The cartoons illustrate indoor and outdoor scenes depicting these fashion concerns as genuinely vexing social problems, mocking both the fashion industry and consumers' preoccupation with appearance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
™ My dampened collz ge dc I suffer it without a For [ am holding my Umbrella over Stella I a sloshing in my shoes On that I have no time to muse For | am holding my Umbrella over Stella ine your emotions stir 1 any day I much pre For I am hy my Umbrella ov a! ‘Ain't Legs Nature 2” OME time ago we began see Fle ose.” Then came “Nude” and “F Nude When they were wet, it was hi tinguish between encased in. chif each ards. gave the like the But a new p less than invis: ckings merge so t of asphalt th s between the top «© hem of the fluttering « has a alt for window-shopping on Fifth Aver On the links the problem threatens to become more serious. Shall we wear grass-green stockings for putting, a ¢ for the fairway, and heather mix! amber for the nineteenth hole, or would a more striking effect be ¢ ned by horizon-blue, melting into the sky on the first and sixth tees? nd no LL work lay proves that Jack the playwrig isa pretty d ccond Di DECORATIVE VE NEXT IN LINE 27 comicbooks.com