The Wasp — 1893 — page 322: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon from *The Wasp* (October 14, 1893) mocks San Francisco high society's fashion trends. The caption references "Dr. Hemphill" giving "fits" to society women through low-neck dresses, with a quip about "bungling San Francisco dressmakers." The illustration shows two elegantly-dressed women in conversation, with cherubs/angels in the background—likely mocking the pretentiousness of fashionable society gatherings. The joke appears to target both the doctor promoting scandalous necklines and the society women's eagerness to adopt the trend, satirizing their vanity and concern with fashionable dress over propriety. The reference to "fits" likely plays on medical/nervous ailment language common in period discourse about women's fashion.