Life — March 8, 1928 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Red Peril" - Life Magazine, March 5, 1925 This illustration depicts a woman applying makeup while seated in an elegant chair, surrounded by vanity items. The title "The Red Peril" appears to be satirizing contemporary anxieties about cosmetics and women's appearance in the 1920s. The "red peril" likely refers to red lipstick or rouge—cosmetic products that were controversial during this era, associated with modern, independent "flapper" culture. Conservative critics viewed heavy makeup as scandalous and morally questionable. Life magazine, satirizing these concerns, presents the woman's beauty routine as a humorous "threat" to traditional values. The artwork is credited to Edmund Davenport. The piece mocks both excessive cosmetic use and the moral panic surrounding women's changing social roles and fashion in the Jazz Age.