The Wasp — 1896 — page 312: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising and directory listings** for San Francisco businesses (hotels, restaurants, saloons, attorneys). The only significant cartoon is titled **"Evolution of the Skirt,"** depicting a woman in increasingly abbreviated clothing, from full Victorian dress to a very short skirt. The accompanying verse by "The Siluriam" describes fashion progressively revealing more of women's legs and bodies. This satirizes **early 20th-century fashion trends** where women's skirts were becoming noticeably shorter—a social scandal to conservative observers. The cartoon mocks this shift as ridiculous and immodest, reflecting anxieties about changing women's fashion and, by extension, women's liberation from restrictive Victorian clothing standards. The satire targets fashion-conscious women and modern trends as foolish.