CWotW – Steampunk

Ok, so it’s not really a “Costume” word this week, it’s more like a “Genere”… But it’s one of the hardest things I’ve had to explain to my Mom in a long time. Costuming/Clothing is the most influential part of Steampunk in my opinion. Without the costume, you’re just an average joe with cool stuff. And having attended the World Steam Expo this past weekend at the Dearborn Hyatt, I thought it was appropriate (All the pictures are ones taken with my camera this past weekend).

It’s a style of fashion/writing/art set in a time period around the victorian era, where we imagine the future that never was: one built on the power of steam engines and brass, as opposed to electricity and fuel. ~ Karmada

Steampunk: An aesthetic movement based around the science fiction of a future that never happened. Recall, if you will, visions of the future that were written a hundred years ago or more. Think Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and the like — telling stories featuring technology that didn’t exist at the time, but might someday. Remember that they were writing with no idea of the microchip, or the internet, or (in some cases) the internal combustion engine. Therefore, in their versions of the future, the technology upon which society would eventually come to depend is driven largely by steam power or clockwork. Sometimes electricity is likewise invoked, but it’s often treated as quasi-magical due to the contemporary lack of understanding about how it behaved and what it could do.WooEEE. That’s a mouthful, I know. Let me broaden that just a smidge and add this as a postscript: Steampunk could be considered a retro-futuristic neo-Victorian sensibility that is being embraced by fiction, music, games, and fashion. It is ornate and vibrant, and intricate. It believes that functional items can and should be beautiful.
It is lots of fun. If it isn’t lots of fun, you’re doing it wrong. ~Cherie Priest, The Clockwork Century

What is Steampunk by the way?
Well, if you are not familiar with the term, it refers to a genre of fiction where steam power, spring gadgets and modern marvels of the 20th century are thrown back to Victorian aesthetics. Technology in a Neo-Victorian setting. The term has spread on to include not just books, but any real mashing up of technology with more classical style, where Verne-esque and Wellsian science is a reality. Some post-apocalyptic elements rise up on occation, depending on the portrayal.
The definitions across the internet vary quite a bit, but that is the general gist of it. ~  Steampunk Lab

So you can see why it’s hard to explain. Some staples of the Steampunk Look are:

• Goggles (especially goggles, but many forms of eye protection usually with perfectly circular lenses)
• Top Hats (any sort of Victorian-esque hat really)
• Corsets (especially these. In this case I include waist-cinchers, under bust corsets, bustiers, Victorian, Edwardian, boned bodices…anything that could be construed as a corset)
• Vests (Men and women)
• Buttons (shiny buttons are best)
• Brass (not just buttons)
• Gears (they’re on everything)
• Buckles (they can go on anything you wear)
• Textures (Tweed, Leather, corduroy… very few well done steampunk outfits look “flat”)
• Detail (This one is difficult, but you can put the outfit together, but if you don’t have that extra detail, it won’t look right. Roll up the sleeves, add that extra tool belt, wear the hat, the makeup…)

During the convention I went to several panels, one that I think explained how to create a steampunk look most simply and beautifully was the one on Steampunk Costuming by G.D. Falksen. He suggested the way to do steampunk well, was to look at period clothing from the 19th century, use that as a base then add more subtle things from there based on what your character would have. He also mentioned color. He suggested looking at Victorian paintings since they had access to color that the sepia toned photos did not. These considerations lend to the more Victorian side of steampunk, the side that looks extremely elegant and almost real.

On the other hand, the panel I went to with Kapitan R.O. von Grelle and her crew. They had the more theatrical approach to steampunk where you need to have your outfit tell exactly what you are, what you do and to not have extraneous items that will detract or confuse what your character’s purpose is. You can see the Kapitan below in red and black. This lends it’s self to a more characture side of steampunk.

So far what I’ve found is that nothing is truly set in stone for steampunk. It simply depends on what you like.