1-150-207 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Utility Combined with Elegance', 1858. This cartoon is one of very many in Punch during the mid-Victorian period which satirise women's fashions. One of Punch's favourite targets was the absurdity of the crinoline. Here, the lady's footman has to walk so far behind her in order not to tread on her skirts that the umbrella he carries is four times the size of an ordinary one and thus accommodates not only himself and his mistress, but a miscellany of street urchins. From Punch, or the London Charivari, November 13, 1858.