The Wasp — 1890 — page 153: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains social gossip and satirical anecdotes rather than political cartoons. The main illustrated piece, "A Deep Cut," depicts two women discussing fashion—Miss Travis criticizes Miss Smith's new dress as "too sweet" while praising her own dressmaker's work. The satire targets vanity and competitive status-consciousness among wealthy women. The text includes stories about Russian nobility seeking American wealth through marriage, a San Francisco bachelor passing off a barroom scandal as haute cuisine, and a commentary on immigration authorities' concerns about foreign nobility entering America. The overall theme mocks both social climbers and the aristocracy's financial desperation in the Gilded Age.