Life, 1927-05-12 · page 9 of 43
Life — May 12, 1927 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical comic mocks the melodramatic posturing of 1920s fashion models. The page depicts various models in exaggerated emotional poses—claiming betrayal, theft, broken hearts—while striking theatrical stances in fashionable clothing. The satire targets both the models themselves (who apparently cultivated dramatic public personas) and the fashion industry's embrace of overwrought sentimentality. Each speech bubble contains absurdly grandiose accusations and emotional declarations meant to seem ridiculous when paired with the models' affected poses and glamorous outfits. The subtitle notes these are "girls who pose for Poiret runs" (a fashionable couture house), suggesting the fashion world encouraged this theatrical behavior. The joke is fundamentally about shallow pretense—models performing emotion as performatively as they perform fashion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life “You beast— you fend ewho calls himself a man!” Her lips trembled; each muscle in her “You brute, beautiful body you cur, you qwas taut (by cad!"" she whom, we won- hissed, her der?) pale cheeks livid with sobbed in an- guish. “You stole my kisses, and cast them aside, witha sneer!” St “You have de- ceived me—" he scailed— ; \ “4, oho tra “But there ill come edy aT, 4, day sof reckenie. ou will be made to " °belceed PAY—you big stif Claus!” —and pay pretty!” With that, she crumpled to the floor, @ quivering mass of lovely flesh DIG EMQTIONAL MOMENT? osc Gu i Su THE FASAION MODEL™ eat comicbooks.com