The Wasp — 1896 — page 354: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is primarily a magazine cover/advertisement page for *The Wasp*, "The Illustrated Weekly of the Pacific Coast." The cartoon titled "Dangers of the Deep" depicts a social scene where a woman in a bathing suit is being observed by other figures. The accompanying caption reads: "Don't you think Maude is quite a picture in her new bathing suit?" with the response "Yes; but it it shrinks any she'll be a living picture." The satire concerns Victorian-era anxieties about women's bathing attire. The joke plays on the practical concern that wool bathing suits would shrink when wet, potentially becoming indecently small. This reflects period attitudes about women's modesty and the emerging debate over women's swimwear as beach culture developed in the 1890s. The page also advertises 1896 subscription premiums for *The Wasp*.