Three Hatted Young Women at Restaurant, One Removing Hat

Gibson stages a charged moment of restaurant etiquette: at a white-clothed dining table, one fashionably dressed woman leans forward removing her enormous feathered hat, while two companions—one consulting what appears to be a menu—sit composed in their own towering millinery. Wine glasses and a tall floral centerpiece anchor the table. In the background, additional diners fill the room. The comedy is social rather than verbal: the hat is so extravagant its removal becomes a minor spectacle, and Gibson's sympathy clearly lies with the women's unselfconscious confidence. No caption is legible in this reproduction. The drawing exemplifies Gibson's fluid cross-hatching and his characteristically affectionate but pointed observation of the New Woman navigating newly public urban spaces on her own terms.