Judge — February 27, 1915 — page 14: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes women's fashion evolution over approximately four centuries (1504-1915). The title "THE DEAR THINGS! WHAT THEY HAVE WORN, AND WHAT THEY ARE WEARING" uses ironic affection to mock fashion's absurdity. The chronological progression shows increasingly elaborate, restrictive garments—massive trains, towering headdresses, corseted silhouettes, ornamental collars—culminating in the 1915 figure wearing a simpler, more practical dress. The satire suggests women blindly followed ridiculous fashion dictates across generations, enduring uncomfortable, unwieldy clothing. By 1915, the cartoon appears to celebrate or at least acknowledge a shift toward more sensible women's dress, possibly reflecting early feminist critiques of restrictive fashion as a form of bodily constraint. The attribution to "Nell Willers" indicates the cartoonist's name.