The Wasp — 1893 — page 89: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This *Wasp* page satirizes the fashion trend of women wearing hoop skirts (crinolines) in San Francisco. The six panels humorously depict "catastrophes" resulting from the voluminous garments: 1. A woman's skirt is so wide it blocks a street 2. A lady's hoop glimpses reveal undergarments, shocking gentlemen 3. A fairy-like figure becomes trapped inside an enormous hoop structure 4. In a carriage, hoops create impossible crowding 5. A subscription advertisement jokes about space allocation for "odds" 6. Men comically surrounded by hoops and umbrellas The satire mocks both the impracticality of the fashion and society's prudish reactions to accidental exposure. The exaggerated scenarios suggest that hoop skirts, though fashionable, create genuine social disruption and embarrassment in everyday urban life.