I attended my first ever Steampunk festival/carnival/fashion show this past weekend. I’d never heard of the fashion or the sub-culture before attending. But, like any good subculture, people get really “into” it. It’s a great example of the fine line between appropriation and innovation.
The movement comes out of a literary sub-genre of science fiction–future (sometimes post-apocalyptic) societies are imagined in which 19th century industrialized Western fashion is combined with America’s “Wild West” fashion ideals (and just a splash of “punk”) all within a world in which steam power is imagined to either have gained mainstream use, or was the primary technology utilized. One of the key features of Steampunk is the sort of retro-futuristic technologies and inventions associated with the genre. Many of the people I saw outfitted themselves with aviator goggles, Victorian fashion, and an odd assortment of historical cultural items from either the U.S. or other European nations. And they were keen to ask each other about their accessories. Authenticity–particularly among the more heavily costumed participants–seemed to be prized.
Inequality by (Interior) Design 