Living ‘La High Life’: Images, Objects, and Words in Motion in Spain and Beyond

Abstract

From around 1880 to 1920, the term ‘high life’ figured prominently in the press, advertising, literature, and illustrated print media in European and American urban centres and was linked to luxury consumer products and a wealthy lifestyle. The meanings of the expression were flexible and became intertwined across geographic locations. Printed media acted as a non-physical contact zone where a multitude of cultural influences, economic interests, and visual languages intersected. Taking Spanish popular print culture as a point of departure, this article charts how the term emerged in different geographic locations and became associated with both local and international identities. The circulation of the high life brand name reveals how cultural producers, advertisers, and local readers thought about transnational webs of consumerism at the turn of the twentieth century. The expression was decentred from its English origin, even in Anglophone settings, and redefined across local cultures without losing its association with perceived international practices and trends.