A Guide To Steampunk Style
Steampunk is a term most commonly used to define a sub-genre of science fiction, one which takes a speculative look at what the past would be like if it was set in the future, or vice versa. Steampunk literature asks what the world would look like if steam had taken the place of electricity as our main source of power. Steam-powered computers are pondered, as well as other fantastic primitively-powered technologies.
Evolving from a literary movement into a sub-genre of film and fashion, steampunk draws largely on Victorian styles of dress, often combined with mechanical motifs such as gears, cogs, goggles or references to the steam railway. Steampunk brings sci-fi, gothic, industrial fetish and gypsy fashions into one eclectic melting pot.
Typical steampunk accessories include goggles, pocket watches, brass buttons and sprockets, gears and cogs. Vest tops and waistcoats are popular, with many steampunk enthusiasts making their own clothing.
Sewing a breast plate onto an old long-sleeved shirt is a good way of pulling off steampunk style, and adding some brass buttons to the edge, as well as shoulder straps or epaulettes will help to make you look like the pilot of a strange steam-powered spaceship from steampunk literature.
There might be some norms and popular items, but steampunk fashion is ideal for creative, artistic people who like to express themselves through their appearance. In the same way that steampunk has a loose and experimental literary tradition, combining future with past, steampunk fashion can be a similarly eclectic mix of styles and concepts. The idea of dressing provocatively in Victorian clothes, of accessorising with body piercings and tattoos, and of wearing jewellery which honours the industrial development of society pays true tribute to the uniqueness of the literary movement.
Blending Victorian and Edwardian clothing styles which can be found in second hand shops with gothic and cyber punk style, steampunk is a melting pot of ideas, and should not be confined to a few iconic items. Men look great in long coats, trousers tucked into large boots worn with cravats and britches. Accessorise with canes, parasols, fob watches, telescopes, handkerchiefs or replica guns.
The aim is to look like a mad inventor, an airship pilot, eccentric aristocrat or cunning burlesque dancer. Steampunk style is about looking like someone from the past, living in the future. If you still don’t understand what steampunk style is all about you should read some H.G Wells or Jules Verne.
John Mce writes on a number of subjects including men’s vintage fragrance
