The Wasp — 1892 — page 564: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains an interview article titled "Our Glass of Fashion," documenting Edward Greenway's conversation with Ward McAllister in New York. The accompanying illustration shows men at what appears to be a cologne counter or perfume display labeled "COLOGNE," with one figure sampling the product. The satire targets **high society's superficiality and pretension**. McAllister, a prominent New York socialite and arbiter of fashion, is depicted discussing trivial matters—fashionable clothing, social etiquette, and grooming—with exaggerated seriousness. The cologne-sampling scene literalizes the article's focus on vanity and appearance. The humor mocks how wealthy elites obsess over social conventions and material status symbols while presenting themselves as authorities on refined living. McAllister's verbose, self-important narrative voice emphasizes the gap between his inflated self-regard and the shallow content he discusses.