Boston Fashion Week Features a Steampunk Designer!

Jake von Slatt — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 08:57

Steampunk Fashion by Elena Sanders
Photo: Essdras M Suarez - Boston Globe Staff

There's a nice piece in the Boston Globe today about Boston's Fashion Week, but what particularly caught my eye was the mention of local designer Elena Sanders who was also mentioned back in May and is participating in a show entitled "The Launch."

From The Boston Fashion Week site:

The Fashion Group International of Boston board has launched a pilot program/event that will result in a presentation during Boston Fashion Week and will feature a selection of 'up & coming' new fashion designers.

Elena's chosen aesthetic is, of course, Steampunk and she discusses it with Christopher Muther of the Boston Globe:

I’m picturing lots of coal-stained faces and dust. How do you work different materials into your pieces without them becoming too much like costumes? Well, sometimes they do become a little bit like costumes. I just experiment with a lot of different materials, and my hands pay dearly for it. They’re always cut up and burned. The first time around I used basic metal. This time around I’m using rivets . . . .

By George I think she gets it! The show is Sunday September 27 at the Boston Center for Adult Education from 3-5 PM and costs $25.

the articles not really show the steaminess or versatility of the garments. The one i'm wearing in the picture is called "the archivist". she is basically the steampunk secretary. I harvested typewriter keys and glued them to male snaps. Where buttons would go i put females snaps so you can write secret messages. The girl is wearing "the mutant" and the boy is wearing "the gentleman" There is a little anecdote that goes with each outfit and a lot of them do tricks or have steamy details. Why didn't i say this to the globe instead of insulting everyone and talking about how i used to dress up as a pink crayon? we will never know

Also, i HATE defining steampunk, i defined steampunk as what the setting in my mind looks like, but it's different for everyone which is what is so appealing about it to me. You really have to take it an make it your own. It forces you to get creative, use your imagination and git yer hands dirty.

also, although i do commissions none of this is for sale. actually some "mainstream" people have tired to buy some of it. I made this collection because i wanted to wear it and people just happened to think it was really cool.

wow! thanks for featuring me

slashnspread — Thu, 10/01/2009 - 21:25

wow! thanks for featuring me on this website!
Also, sorry for calling steampunks "dorky gamers" I get get really nervous when i am put on the spot by a reporter and just start swearing and talking shit. of course they sensor the swearing.
Actually a lot of "mainstream" people have tried to buy my clothes because i work in separates. This collection is such that you can mix and match a lot of it to create many different looks, from victorian fantasy land, to automaton girl to a steampunk outlaw in a dystopian future to a night out on the town (the last on was completely unintentional but some stylist said they would wear some of it with jeans)
Although i do do commissions none of it is for actually for sale. I made it because i wanted to wear it. My designs are largely about taking elements of something and making it my own. I tried to describe steampunk as how I think of it and my collection. I think that that is what makes steampunk so cool: it's a genre that forces you to be creative and get your hands dirty since you can't really go to a store and pull a "steampunk outfit" off the rack.

Oh Hi! Don't sweat it! I'm

Jake von Slatt — Thu, 10/01/2009 - 21:58

Oh Hi!
Don't sweat it! I'm excited to see the outside world starting to key into what we do and are passionate about. I'd love to see more of your work and I'm sure our readers would do!
Jake.

She GETS it????

artvixn — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 13:57

When asked "What exactly is a steampunk?"
She say "It's a very small subculture, and the more I researched it, the more I found out how uncool it is. It's something that dorky gamers are into. But I'm into more of the aesthetic of it, because I think it's really beautiful. It goes hand-in-hand with cyberpunk. A lot of goths are into it."

I'm sorry. That is the worst answer to that question I have ever heard. She really doesn't get it and shouldn't be encouraged until she actually makes an effort. I'd like to see more of her work, but I am not impressed so far. there are so many fabulous steampunk designers who deserve a shot. I think it's sad that she is the one to get publicity.

Hehe! Let's not condemn her

Jake von Slatt — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 14:07

Hehe! Let's not condemn her for a comment made to a reporter back in May. You are right that there are many designers doing fantastic things - but there are very few folks inside the mainstream fashion world willing to use the "S-word."

She does seem to put an

Questionablekri — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 21:18

She does seem to put an effort into the clothing she makes as well, if the comments she made about burnt hands are true. So on that end I applaud her.
But as a designer, one should know better than to basically insult those who are going to be the target market for the clothes you produce. Especially a target market where a lot of communication takes place on the internet, where word travels fast and can be misconstrued into something worse, thus making the designer look even worse.
Because while you can try to sell it as a mainstream fashion, primarily it's going to appeal to people who already have a taste for steampunk/victorian/etc style. And I can see a lot of mainstream fashion designers, critics, etc dismissing it as silly as costumey.

Anyway, just thought that might be worth pointing out. -commences back to lurking-

Self condemnation

Papa Steampunk — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 20:47

She apparently has condemned herself. She seems oblivious to the realities of the Steampunk community. Personally with that attitude I'd never buy any of her designs. Dorky gamers indeed. Harrumph.