The Wasp — 1878 — page 55: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical illustration from *The Wasp* depicts fashionable women whose bustles and trailing skirts have transformed into train cars and mechanical elements—a visual pun on "the train nuisance." The satire criticizes excessively wide, elaborate women's fashion of the period (likely 1870s-1880s), which featured prominent bustles that extended far behind the wearer. The cartoon suggests these fashions were impractical and obstructive in public spaces—literally becoming "nuisances" that inconvenienced others. Cherub figures and various mechanical/anatomical details surround the women, emphasizing the absurdity of the designs. The joke mocks both the extreme fashions themselves and the women who wore them, reflecting contemporary debates about women's fashion excess and propriety.