Our own Libby Bulloff has a wonderful article in the current issue of SteamPunk Magazine. Libby makes the case for what needs to happen for Steampunk to become a sustainable style rather than mere and fleeting fashion.

Within, she examines current trends in Steampunk dress and warns that:

We’re no better than our wealthy, trendy, hipster counterparts when we cease the continuous metamorphosis of our look, when we won’t fearlessly model our style at our desk jobs . . . 

I think she hits the nail on the head.

SteamPunk Magazine is available in print through Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness in the Americas and Vagrants Among Ruins for the rest of the world, and can also be downloaded for free from their downloads page.  Available for the first time is an iPhone/eReader version for 1£. This is the version I bought and I love having it on my phone. 

Also featured in this issue are pieces by Jaymee Goh of Silver Goggles and Ay-leen The Peacemaker of Beyond Victoriana who did me the great honor of inviting me to sit on their Social Issues in Steampunk Roundtable panel at the upcoming Steampunk World's Fair!

Someone once told me that the first things people look at when they meet you are your shoes and your hands. It's very easy to tell if someone uses their hands to make things as they tend to have callouses, weathered skin, and may have curious stains or broken nails. Shoe choice reads just as clearly--do your shoes match your outfit? Are they stylish and functional? Are they impractical, well-designed, worn out, or coated in dust from the workshop?

I personally love how shoes complete an outfit, and I have a special lust for vintage-influenced footwear, both practical and whimsical. It can be very difficult to acquire antique footwear that fits a modern foot--our predecessors often had shorter, narrower feet--or that hasn't been worn to death. I am fortunate enough to own a pair of 1930s oxfords that fit my slender feet, a set of antique leather roller skates, and some killer scarlet pointy-toed punk boots from back in the day. However, if you're not so lucky as to have a real vintage shoe collection, lots of modern shoes still nod at the past in their design (and fit bigger feet). There is nothing quite like the curve of a Louis heel, mmhmm.

Here's a selection of shoes (ranging from totally casual to super decadent) for the ladies I've found in scouring the interwebs that all have vintage flair. I'll be doing a similar post for you gentleman types, never you fear. :) And hey, not all of these are brown and clunky! Yay! Let's get some SHOES!

One of the ways I upcycle old, worn garments is to dye them. Stained, stretched-out beaters, ratty petticoats, and once-white tuxedo shirts with dingy collars enshroud themselves in new life when dropped into a steaming bucket of color. As my best friend is a pedigreed textiles artist, I've spent many a night in a professional dye lab, using bromine and other harsh chemicals to deposit tint onto wool, but I feel that the most satisfying way to dye fabric is to use what is essentially garbage. I speak of items you're probably going to toss or compost anyway, like yellow onion skins, beet tops, yesterday's Earl Grey bag, or that rusting tin of turmeric you bought eons ago for Indian cooking (but instead forgot in the back of the cabinet). Natural dye has been used to color fabric for 4,500 years, and was even popular amongst German soldiers in World War II due to broken trade routes.¹

As seen this morning via the oddity sandwich that is Google Buzz/riotclitshave:

Model: Ulorin Vex
Photographer: Allan Amato

This is definitely Doin' It Right [TM]. Heck yes.

Etsy.com is indubitably Mecca for handmade steampunk clothing. Here are a few awesome pieces I dug up this morning. If you have any favorite Etsy sellers or items, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Read on for details!

Thank you.

~~~~~

Back with another round of street fashion and casual, wearable steampunk! This week's featured soul is writer and critic Jessica Lawson. I stayed at her current residence in San Francisco last week as I toured with The Ghosts Project, and I was pleasantly surprised when she emerged in the following get-up. Jessica is employed as a teacher at the University of Iowa, and her clothing choices prove that one can be professional and fashion forward simultaneously.

We took these images outside Macky Hall on the California College of the Arts campus, Oakland, CA. Thank you to Jessica for posing for me and for letting me borrow her camera. I thought I'd be clever and leave my SLR at home for a change, but it seems I can't escape playing photog, ever. :) Read on for outfit details!

One of my favorite late-night time-wasting activities is trolling Flickr for shiny bits. There are so many glorious puddles of inspiration nestled in photo sets and galleries, and I adore frolicking through them. I'd like to share with you some of my tasty findings in regards to vintage punk fashion. Delish.

Thank you to all of the models, photographers, artists, and designers whose work I reference below. Click through the photos for additional details. <3

[Image to the right is of Magdalene Veen, taken by The Dag Lab. Stained fishnet stockings make sexy arm accessories.]

In Jake's post on goth, via the comment thread, Sangori asked a fashion question I'd like to address:

"How do you really, I mean really, incorporate your subculture style into your everyday work life?

Call me a fence-straddler, (I have come to terms with the fact that I am) but I am having real trouble finding a way to incorporate my love of steampunk inspired Victoriana with my work wardrobe in a way that puts off a fully professional image. Being that I have a toddler at home and don't get out much other than to go to work I have to express myself through fashion mostly in a work-appropriate way. While in a creative field, I do spend my nine-to-five in an office environment. I certainly have a found a few choice pieces that do cross between work and steam well enough, and I have a covet/shopping list of a few more (think tall brown boots, tweed skirts and vests, a herringbone newsboy cap and camel coat to brave the cold weather in). However, while I feel confident in my steampunk styled toggs I can't help but worry that my sense of theme dressing comes off as a bit costumey to my employers and colleagues.

Is my worry more a facet of being unwilling to fully commit to the cultural aesthetic of steampunk style, or something more valid that others struggle with?"

Bloody good question. Ok, so, first of all, I don't think having problems finding work-appropriate attire means that one isn't entirely invested in a subculture. It's not a matter of lowering one's standards, per se. Being conscious of how your fashion choices affect both your own disposition as well as the way others perceive you is actually an incredibly mature way of looking at the closet. There is a fine line between being fearless and being foolish with your wardrobe, so I'm pleased that Sangori is questioning this.

A very happy new year to all of our readers from the staff of SPWS!

2010 really does sound like the future, does it not? I feel like this year is going to be very productive and positive for many of us. On that note, I'd like to ask you all what your resolutions are, but with a twist: What are you going to make this year? What projects are on the docket? Let's share ideas and trade inspiration.

I intend to work on more DIY fashion--it's been ages since I got out my sewing machine and tailor's chalk. I hope that urging myself to sketch more, stitch more, dye more, and photograph higher-concept shoots will enable me to grow exponentially as an artist and a maker (and give me shinier things to show off here!).

So, what are you going to do?

~~~~~

[In the photo:
Model: Molly Mitchell of Deshret Dance Company
Makeup + Hair: Lindsey Watkins
Corset vest: Molly Mitchell
Hat: Redd Walitski
Military mosquito tent ballskirt and photo: Libby Bulloff]

No brainy fashion content today, folks! Just want to wish you all a happy merry on behalf of the entire staff of SPWS.  May all your days be electrifying.

Should you wish to show 'n brag, feel free to let me know about your favorite gift given/received in the comments section. I scored this gorgeous graphic pottery bowl from MudStuffing. Note the sexy vintage boot images!

Cheers!