The Future of SteamPunk Fashion -- SteamPunk Magazine #7
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!
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Comments
Fashion is destroying steampunk
The whole point of "fashion" is to create a repeatable look. The whole concept of steam-punk has been taken over by would-be designers and college girls emanating a look without really understanding anything about the concepts behind it. Steam-punk is already becoming a joke because people think you just buy a pair of goggles and a leather cap and hey-presto you are suddenly trendy. If you're male...add a duster. Female...garish striped leggings. It's all crap. They've never made anything. They've never unplugged from the standard consumer model. They've never actually DONE anything original or independent. Unfortunately this dilution of what the movement really stood for is insidious and is even happening here. How many maker articles are there Jake? How much good design and engineering do you post? Compare that to the never-ending, breathless posts about fashion and music and hey-presto "steampunk workshop" jumps the shark.
How about dedicating a month to REAL articles about real makers and real independent creation with a steam-punk ethos? Any etsy reject can create steam-punk fashion. Any band can wear burning-man costumes and call themselves steam-punk. It's all bullshit.Been following your site for over a year, but pretty close to removing this from bookmarks. Really don't need a guide telling me how important "steampunk fashion" can be. Lame.
My position is pretty much
My position is pretty much the same as the folks over at Boingboing.net
It's our blog and we will post what we want and you can read what you like.
Have a nice day.
Jake.
Dude
Not trying to harsh you personally Jake. I have followed your projects with a lot of excitement. Your bus gave me a lot of ideas going into the remodel of my 100yr old workshop.It just seems like of late, it's become more steampunkfashionshop and less steampunkworkshop. If that's the direction you're going good luck. Just giving you an avid followers feedback. When 4 out of 6 posts here are strictly about clothing and fashion, I wonder if the focus has changed?
If Make magazine suddenly changed their format and every article became about crochet; I wonder, if it would still really be Make?
Peace,
C
That's what tags are for.
That's what tags are for. Each tag cloud has it's own RSS feed so it's really easy to filter content so you only see what you like. If you are only interested in my projects just set your bookmark to: http://steampunkworkshop.com/taxonomy/term/11 and you will only see posts tagged with "Projects."
For my part, I'm really interested in fashion in the Steampunk community. It's the original form of social networking and it's how people identify like minded folk in the world. Much of it began as costume and cosplay, but there is an evolving style and I am very curious where it will go and whether it will be more punk or steam.
Cheers,
Jake.