Life — March 27, 1931 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "Perfect Understanding" by Burton Bradley This page satirizes changing women's fashion and social mores. The poem mocks the Victorian custom of concealing women's legs beneath long skirts and drapery, calling these garments outdated ("Sweet and old fashioned and modest and quaint"). The satire celebrates the modern trend of women revealing their legs—described as liberating ("Trot out the legs again"). The poem suggests fashion authorities ("Modesty" petticoats) artificially enforced leg-covering, which is now being abandoned. The accompanying cartoons illustrate the absurdity: one shows a woman gesturing at a massive globe, questioning what was lost by revealing legs; another depicts a bicycle-riding woman, likely referencing how bicycles necessitated more practical, leg-revealing clothing. The overall message endorses women's fashion modernization as both practical and socially acceptable progress.