The Wasp — 1893 — page 472: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* features satirical commentary on San Francisco's wealthy women and their extravagant spending habits. The main article mocks the "reckless extravagance" of society women who spend lavishly on fashion—particularly veils and bonnets—while their husbands complain about costs. One anecdote describes a wife whose millinery bill ($13 monthly in the 1880s-90s) exceeds her husband's ability to pay, highlighting tension between conspicuous consumption and household budgeting. The accompanying illustrations depict fashionable women and their vanities. Other brief items satirize social pretensions, including "A Hardened Pessimist" and commentary on the flat-glazed hat trend. The page also contains period advertisements for remedies like "Tape-Worm" treatments and pulmonary balsam, typical of era publications.