The Wasp — 1895 — page 781: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This single-panel cartoon depicts two figures examining a woman's leg. The man (labeled "Mr. Cycle") suggests the woman (labeled "Mrs. Cycle") has a "narrow leg," while she insists it's "more than likely to be a bloomers." The humor relies on the late-19th-century controversy over women's bloomers—loose, divided skirts that revealed the leg's outline. The joke plays on ambiguity: what appears to be an anatomically narrow leg is actually just the silhouette created by the new clothing style. This satirizes the shock and social debate surrounding bloomers, which challenged Victorian dress conventions and were considered scandalous by conservatives for their relative exposure and association with women's reform movements.