Life — January 20, 1927 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This appears to be a six-panel comic strip titled "The Mo[del]" (title cut off) satirizing luxury hotel or apartment living. The sequence shows well-dressed visitors touring an elaborate, ornate building with grand architectural features—tall columns, decorative plants, elegant furnishings, and dramatic lighting. The captions ("Ah! Magnificent!", "Really Superb!", "Like Fairyland!", "It almost takes your breath away!") track increasingly enthusiastic reactions to the opulent space. The satire targets the pretentiousness of wealthy society—people performing impressed reactions to conspicuous luxury as social performance. The joke appears to mock how such displays inspire reflexive admiration, suggesting the absurdity of valuing style over substance in high-society culture.