If you are hoping to upgrade your steampunk outfit, or are just starting one, you may be thinking, "what do I need to include to make my costume steampunk?"
I have a short answer and a long answer for you.
The short answer is: goggles, hats, gadgets/jewelry, Victorian-style shoes, and attitude, or any combination of the above!
A long and well thought-out answer I will not venture to reinvent today. The topic has already been written to death on the web, often very well; the article that I like the best can be found here: Deconstructing Steampunk by Camilla at Costume Craze.
Mission accomplished, foundation in place (or, lines cast off for departure, if you prefer airship lingo)! Here are some resources you can use to make your own outfit utterly tip top.
An excellent source of Victorian garment patterns for sale/download:
Specializing in the Bustle Era
"Welcome to the Enchanting World of Victorian Clothing"
How about a video sewing guide to help those seams zip along as planned?
They also have more videos for do-it-yourself fashions of all kinds on their site.
For supplies and for finished costume items, try:
www.bustledress.com
Hats! Glorious hats! Topsy Turvy Design
"Costume Accessories for Stage, Film, and Play"
Victorian, Renaissance, 18th Century, Burlesque
And of course, if you want some unusual steampunk-inspired jewelry, you may wish to take a look in my studio, Steampunk Jewelry by DreamSteam.
(No, I could not resist a shameless plug!) My items have wandered toward the "inspired" of late, and a wonderful customer recently purchased many of my better pieces, but there are a few pieces still for sale that I feel qualify for out-and-out steampunk status (think pocket watches and gears!).
These sites should give you a great start to creating your dashing steampunk ensemble. You may also search this blog for keywords "fashion" and the like (the tag cloud helps) to find sellers of accoutrements I have reviewed in the past. Are you a member of my blog and care to post or link photos of your outfit? Please do! Enjoy, and best of luck creating.
~ DS
I love your cat icon.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Though I did not create it, I just thought it was cute. Others have flamed the image elsewhere, especially on Regretsy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.regretsy.com/2010/07/13/things-that-are-not-steampunk-9/ (Though it is not clear whether they were flaming the Etsy listing, which was just a cat statue tagged with 'steampunk', or the altered photo of the statue.)
It's just for a giggle, or a smile, and I am glad someone else got the reference and liked it too. =)