A few weeks ago, over some fine whiskey, Jake von Slatt asked me if I would be interested in writing for Steampunk Workshop on the topic of fashion trends within the genre. Part of me jumped for joy at another opportunity to collaborate with Jake...and admittedly, a voice in my subconscious whined "What's left to talk about steampunk fashion? It's been at the summit of the internet zeitgeist for years, it's been done to death with a gaggle of goggles and shades of sepia, and it's mainstreamed."

However, these reasons are exactly why I do have a lot of things to say about steam fashion. While it has popularized to the point of being represented at cons and clubs, and while it has appeared this week (albeit unnamed as such) in the New York Times, steampunk has not become highly visible as a common street fashion trend. Or, if it has become a fashion trend, it hasn't yet entirely metamorphosed into a functional, sustainable style. Fashion lasts a season (if that); style is internal, eternal, and transcends time. Sound familiar?

In yesterday's post, Jake quoted the author of the NY Times article, David Colman, saying “There are all kinds of societies that are about dressing up in period costume and then going back to your oversize jeans the next day,” he said. “This is about style as a way of being.” [emphasis Jake's] And this very style is precisely what I intend to talk about in my posts here. I want to talk about a wider vintage influence on modern style, not just bastardized Victoriana. I want to avoid things already labeled with the dreaded s-word or coated in functionless gears. I want to talk about DIY and bespoke, as well as off-the-rack. I want to talk about attainable and affordable garments that can be acquired for a plethora of body types and sizes and genders, not just what's chic for a femme in size 0 with the funds to buy couture. I want to talk about clothing that can be worn to work, not just to parties or LARPs. I want to talk about color, not just brown and cream. And, I want to talk about the notion of accessorizing both yourself and your surroundings in a way that makes you feel like you're living the dream.

Oh, and just to spite Mister Colman, I want to make certain he understands, very clearly, that we are not hipsters.

Who am I to open this discussion? My name is Libby Bulloff, and I'm no fashionista. I'm a photographer in Seattle. I take brightly-colored portraits of wonderful people from a variety of subcultures. I also contribute to Steampunk Magazine, and I have my own project blog called Exoskeleton Cabaret.

Please let me know in the comments if there's a specific subject you'd like to see covered in future posts, or say hello! Thanks to Jake for adding me to the Steampunk Workshop family.

[Photo by Libby Bulloff of Finn von Claret and David S Dowling in Gasworks Park, Seattle.]

Those masterful mavens of music promotion,
Bulloff and Brugh Present:

WAYFARERS OF THE GYPSY MANSION - a musical bazaar of sorts
with HUMANWINE, THE BLACKBIRD ORCHESTRA, NATHANIEL JOHNSTONE,
TOY BOX TRIO, MEISCE, FINN VON CLARET, and DJ Q.

Sunday, May 10, 2009 3 pm to 10 pm
The Little Red Studio
750 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA
ALL-AGES, $15 donation

Wearables, craftables, and edibles provided by a plethora of local and regional artisans. We will take a dinner break (with DJ) at 6:30 pm - please bring your own sack meal, a picnic to share, or food can be acquired from two of our vendors. Vegan options available. Adult beverages can be purchased by 21+ individuals.

Willow and Libby are justifiably excited about bringing HUMANWINE to Seattle! Friends from Sock Dreams will also be arriving from Portland to vend excellent foot/legwear.

Larger poster is here. Leave a comment here if you’d like to help out at the event or hang flyers–Libby has an 11×17 hi-res PDF in the wings for print-yr-own. Spread the word. All are welcome.

These are the times, my friends. And these are the days. Where the world becomes malleable, palpable. When novelty and genius are within our reach. We are cautioned against being passionate about these things by tales of progress turned to greed and of technology turning on us. And yet, the golden light is just right, the clocks are synchronizing, the stars are in alignment.

This is what we celebrate tonight. We celebrate these transient times, with these transient artists.

- c. lantz

[You may remember HUMANWINE from Make:TV Episode 103 which you can view after the cut - just skip ahead to 7:50, no need to sit through any of that other guy, again. This looks to be an absolutely AMAZING event and I desperately wish I could be there! - Jake]

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF LIBBY BULLOFF
March 1-29, 2009
Today! Thursday, March 5, 6-11 pm
Pioneer Square Art Walk
Utilikilts Flagship Store
620 1st Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98104

Libby Bulloff is the Annie Leibowitz of Steampunk! I've followed her work for some time now and I really love her composition and use of color - there is a calm joyfulness in her images that makes me happy.

Libby writes:

I have a solo art show coming up at the Utilikilts flagship store in Seattle! I will present work from 2007-2009, including new portraits from three studio shoots at Starfish. Prints will be available, as will complimentary snacks (read: custom Naftali chocolates) and dance beats. Please come on out and say hello (and feel free to grope the manskirts whilst you’re at it)!

I’ve also recently booked a small group photography show at Zero Zero (also in Seattle), but this won’t occur until August, which gives me plenty of time to shoot new, brightly-colored work.

From Wikipedia:

Upcycling is a component of sustainability in which waste materials are used to provide new products. It is generally a reinvestment in the environment. "Upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value." This process allows for the reduction of waste and use of virgin materials.

The term upcycling was coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, authors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.

It's a term that my photographer friend Libby Bulloff introduced me to and I hope to make "Upcycling:" a regular feature here at The Steampunk Workshop.  If you have a cool hack for "Upcycling:" please send it to me!

We bought this thing in an uncharacteristic flurry of consumerism in preparation for a huge family Thanksgiving dinner.  But you know what?  The damn thing works quite well and is really handy for spot clean-ups which seem to be the only kind of cleanups we ever do these days.

We quickly discovered that the bottles of cleaner were not meant to be re-filled, they have a lock-ring on the cap like some milk bottles, only this ring doesn't break away when you try and twist off the cap.

I've been booked for the first ever California Steampunk Convention in Sunnyvale, California - October 31 through November 2! 

I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing but there is sufficient time to put together a really bitch'n presentation and/or demo!  I'll also be participating in a discussion panel or two.

In addition, some of The Steampunk Workshop's bestest friends will be there, and by that I mean Ann & Jeff VanderMeer the editors of Steampunk as well as those roguishly appealing pirates: Abney Park!

Discounted tickets are on sale now until June 15 for $50, they will be $60 thereafter.

Abney Park posing aboard the Neverwas Haul at Maker Faire 2008 (Photo - Libby Bulloff)

I completely forgot that The Boston Phoenix shot video when they came out to the workshop to interview me! They've just put it up on their site and I've embedded it here:

If you haven't read the whole piece you should! It contains a LOT more then just me, in fact I'm in less then 20% of the written article.

I am so pleased that my home town really seems to "get" Steampunk!

On Saturday May 3, Cap'n Robert of Abney Park, Libby Bulloff of SteamPunk Magazine and I will be on  The Heather Gold Show which will be streamed live from the main stage at Maker Faire.  From Heather's site:

I am happy to announce that The Steampunk Workshop will be making a grand appearance at this years Maker Faire! For those of you not acquainted with it; "Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things." Make magazine, sponsor of the event, has been very kind to SPWS and given us a space to create for you what we have named the Contraptors Lounge. It will be a space for Steampunk Makers, admirers, and the unaffiliated or uninitiated to meet, greet, fraternize, and otherwise hobnob with each other and us as well as see some awesome projects!

Appearing at the lounge will be the inimitable Datamancer (of steampunk laptop fame), The Legion Fantastique, Magpie and Libby Bulloff of Steampunk Magazine, Molly 'Porkshanks' Friedrich - whose work has been featured here on SPWS - as well as a several other travellers and Makers including yours truly, Meredith Scheff, and our esteemed proprietor Jake von Slatt.

Maker Faire is held in San Mateo, Ca, on the weekend of May 3rd and 4th. In addition to our humble encampment, there will be all manner of machinery, crafts, lectures, thing-a-ma-bobs, whatchamajigs, and whosawatsits to peruse at your leisure. In other words, if at all humanly possible, you should drag your bustled bootie out there and have yourself one hell of a good time!