Steampunk and its growing following

[Taffy Saltwater]

Not everybody has the talent or money to spread around to make/collect truly great garb.  I consider mine to be middlin' and shudder to think what I wore a couple of times to faire.  One does what one can with one's ability and $$$.  I just appreciate people making some - any - effort to join in the fun.  And that's for any event.  I for one am not going to complain that someone's garb/makeup/headwear/persona/theme is not up to my less-than-perfect standards.

I also make an effort to change out what I wear to functions.  Not the same thing every single time.  Now that's booooooring.

[crashbot]

Well, you see people with "Gothic/Victorian/vampire/faire gear"  because those are a better part of the fan base of the subculture. I've been seeing Steam punk outfits running around the goth/industrial clubs since the mid 90's. I am sure those people might have been into the Sci-Fi genre back then., but I don't think have to be a fan of the sci-fi genre to be a fan of the aesthetic.

Its typical of anything though. X is more X than X because they did X first/better/for X reason before everyone else and now that others are doing X it is trendy and therefore X is not as X anymore.

[Rani Zemirah]

I'm just here for the brass...   

This is actually a pic of my cousin Laura.  She lives down in that area, is very talented and creative, and has the resources to invest... all of which lead to some wonderful garb, for all the different events she attends.  She's very into Ren, also, but I guess she doesn't have much interest in the forums, or at least I've never seen her here, anyway. 

[Taffy Saltwater]

I met her and listened to her schpiel on her outit at the catwalk.  It truly is a small world.

[Zardoz]

I realize that my tone towards the steampunk topic comes off pretty negative. Rest assured, while I obviously have some issues, they are with what I see as current trends, and not the folks involved.

As Crashbot said, You don't have to be a fan of the SP genre to be a fan of the aesthetics.  He's quite right, but I do think that's too bad, because there's a lot of good SP material out there, and the "non-fiction" versions of the times and fashions SP is based in are interesting too.

And while I do decry what I see as an 'overload' of SP themed stuff at the moment, I admit that a Sci-Fi con or this thread is not really the best backdrop for that critique!

Please let me say that it was never my intent to run down anyone's sincere attempts at costuming, SP or otherwise. If I came across like that, I apologize to anyone I may have offended.  I love peoples creativity, and like Taffy noted, I just appreciate folks making an effort to join in the fun.

BTW; Here's a photo of Taffy I took at FenCon..

I like her outfit quite a lot, it's reminiscent of some of Kaja & Phil Foglio's SP stuff, which I like, and it has Color! which is missing from so many SP costumes.

[Anna Iram]

I like it too and I see the paisley and beading of your skirt better in this picture.  Taffy can you tell me more about the character that inspired this? I'm curious how all the bits and pieces relate.

[Rani Zemirah]

Jagerkin RULE!!! 

Oh, and uhhh... some of those Wulfenbachs are ok, too... 

But that Sparky new Heterodyne, now... she's an altogether different kind of story!!!     heheh

[Anna Iram]

You might as well be speaking Martian, Rani....

Googling Jagerkin....haha..I added the Rule, like it's part of a name.... duh....


Is Wulfenbach and Heterodyne the two different looks I see Taffy in?

Just curious.

[Rani Zemirah]

They're all characters from Girl Genius, but the black coat with the gorgeous trim is one of her Jager outfits... which (she probably won't tell you) is directly based on a drawing Phil Foglio (artist who draws Girl Genius) drew FOR her, OF HER as a Jagermonster, and then proceeded to put into the latest GG BOOK!!!  Our Taffy is now immortal...      She owns the original, but he, of course, owns the printing rights, and he surprised her by putting it in the book without even telling her what he was planning, and then he sent her a copy of the book with it in there!   LOLOL 

Sorry, Taffy... I should probably have let you tell the story!   

Anna, if you read a few pages of the online comic you might just find yourself hooked... and shortly thereafter you'll be speaking the same language (and probably in the same accent) as the rest of us GG addic... er, uhhh... enthusiasts! 

[Anna Iram]

Nice! What an honor.

Thanks for the story, Rani. I'll have to do a bit more reading I see.

[Rani Zemirah]

I think you'll enjoy it... 

[Taffy Saltwater]

Ack!  Taffy has been outed as a Jaegergurl!  Actually, I did post this sketch earlier in the year when I received it.  And I will add:  Volume 9 - the webcomic, in which this was published, won the Hugo award last year for Best Graphic Story.  And they also won the Hugo Award in the same category a couple of weeks ago for Volume 10 OVER a Neil Gaiman Batman.

The Foglio sketch: 

Me (cosplaying myself - hee!): 

[Taffy Saltwater]

Anna, there is no rhyme or reason to the red/black outfit.  The coat was picked up at Goodwill - a hip length Nancy Reagan era granny jacket - and I modded it, removing the old frog fastenings, changing the hem style (the back has tails), and adding the trim.  There are about 7 yds. of black silk ribbon in the front.  The dangles were based on Jude Law's dinner coat in last year's Sherlock Holmes, which was in turn based on the British Home Guards' uniform (I believe).  Anyway, there's a lovely photo of Czar Nicholas wearing one in a family pic w/Queen Victoria.  One of these days I'd like like to do the military tunic in its original black - I have a black velvet coat that would work nicely ... hmm.

Since one of my favorite color combos is red & black, of course it went w/my black skirt.  The hat is a folly I picked up on eBay - an old marching band hat (shako), which is fairly period to the the jacket style.  I dremmelled off the raised star & added a clock to the watch just for fun.

I really did not mean this to be an homage to GG, but it certainly ended up looking that way.  Mostly, people wanted to know where the band was, which was not my intention!

[Rani Zemirah]

Check this...



I thought it was worth a mention...   

[Taffy Saltwater]

And now for something completely NSFW: www.littledeathray.com