steampunk fashion show, more

[rm]

Carmella
Originally uploaded by Scoundrelle

Oh, cooooool frigging FLicker feature. Anyway, you can go to the link I posted previously for more from the fashion show of everyone involved, but I'm quite fond of this pic.

Comments

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

That looks fucking awesome.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

That was my favorite when I flipped through them.

[lawsontl.livejournal.com]

Wow! You just OWN that outfit.

I love steampunk. I love dressing up! I just...I'm still so in flux with the weight, and now with the job situation, it feels stupid to buy more costume pieces. This year for Halloween is going to be really interesting. I want to raid my mother's closet. She was about the size I am now in the 60's and 70's. Not my favorite era, but "dress up" all the same. Between that and her stash of Sarah Coventry jewelry, maybe I can pull off something.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

I love your fashion sense!

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

You drive me nuts. You do Women and Men so well! That is one great picture.
But I also like the one of you leaning against the wall. Gorgeous.

[afterthree.livejournal.com]

Very cool. I love the necklace to bits. And want those pants. Very nice photo set.

[hughcasey.livejournal.com]

Very, very pretty.

Oh, and the dress and necklace are nice, too. ;-)

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

You took some fun photos in this outfit!

Now comes the bit where the historical costumer pops out as well as the person who thinks about function way too much...

Did you like the outfit? How did it make you feel?

Did you like the colors? I wouldn't have chosen milk chocolate browns and cream for you but then it's been ages since I've seen you in natural lighting and not dressed up.

What were you supposed to be doing in the outfit? Lots of steampunk has a story behind it. This is the outfit I wear when tracking werewolves, seducing the airship captain, captaining an airship, fixing my airship (yes, we LOVE dirigibles! ;-p), adventuring, whatnot. What sorts of things would you do in the outfit you wore?

Was it comfortable?


And now the feminist wants her turn! ;-p

I've read other posts about your choice of dress at DragonCon and not putting lots of skin on display. This steampunk outfit had a decent amount of flesh on display. If it's not too persal, how did the affect you? Way less personal, how do you think that fits into steampunk and the steampunk vs. the historical periods we're loosely drawing from?

I know, lots of questions this early in the morning but Victorian fashion/historical fashion has been a passion of mine since I was little.

I longed to look beautiful like that in a world where that sort of beauty wasn't for a working class kid and where that sort of beauty was out of style. Not to mention that being beautiful wasn't thought of as an appropriate aspiration for a smart girl. There were points in my past where the act of putting on make-up left me in tears because even though I looked "good" by contemporary standards, I felt as though I looked like a "painted whore". Took me a good 20 years to get over that one...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Did you like the outfit? How did it make you feel?

It made me feel like I take up a lot more space than a normally do, but it was really well proportioned, so that wound up being fine. I was surprised by the degree to which the bloomers didn't make me look fat or that the whole thing didn't make my shoulders look small. More on why taking up space matters in future answers.

Did you like the colors?

I'm extremely partial to white/cream so that part was easy, and Patty said the brown worked really good with my hair and eyes. Normally when I wear white I like to match it with a jewel tone (usually a deep green), but I thought this worked really well.

What were you supposed to be doing in the outfit? Lots of steampunk has a story behind it. This is the outfit I wear when tracking werewolves, seducing the airship captain, captaining an airship, fixing my airship (yes, we LOVE dirigibles! ;-p), adventuring, whatnot. What sorts of things would you do in the outfit you wore?

No idea, and I didn't get a narrative for it. To be frank that level of character development in some of Steampunk fashion makes me uncomfortable - is it clothing or an RPG? I'm fine with either, but it's hard to see the line. THat said, a lot of steampunk fashion would make even less sense if we didn't talk about why things have gears on them or why someone is where a goddamn pith helmet (a particular subject of peeviness for me).

Was it comfortable?

For what it was. I mean, it is a corset and it was laced very tightly. However, I did manage to wear it for about 5 or 6 hours, run all over the con, do a panel and eat dinner in it. It is the most comfortable corset I have ever worn that wasn't made custom for me and some of the most solid construction I've seen.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've read other posts about your choice of dress at DragonCon and not putting lots of skin on display. This steampunk outfit had a decent amount of flesh on display. If it's not too persal, how did the affect you? Way less personal, how do you think that fits into steampunk and the steampunk vs. the historical periods we're loosely drawing from?

Well, for starts, I had more gender dysphoria in it than I was expecting -- some days it's more intense than others, and I just shove it away, especially when I'm working, but that was a little jarring to me. More jarring was the attention -- this is when people hit on me in the bar until they realized I was a guest (an interesting trend: men get more play when people discover they are guests; when people discover a woman is a guest, they back off either out of "respect" or because she suddenly has power), and also when I got cornered and harassed by that man and his son until I posed for a picture with them. I'm very comfortable very naked -- to go back to my dyphoria, it's not actually about the shape of my body, but about the implications. This isn't a man's body? Sometimes I forget. -- but I was really flipped out by the degree of entitlement and attention was directed at me once I was dressed like that. On some level, it was gratifying, because DragonCon is a lot about being a sweet young thing and being chosen: for photos, for a media moment, for sex, for attention from a guest, and that doesn't happen to me, because I don't play that clothing game and I also don't costume at the con because I am a guest -- if I get attention from someone important, it's because we're engaging as peers. On the other hand, all con people were taking my picture because I'm rm so it wasn't like I was finally getting attention, just that I was finally getting, to be frank, more generic attention. That said, all the steampunk people, who are generally very nice stopped me and loved on the outfit a lot.

I have some pretty significant discomforts with some of steampunk -- it easily glorifies violence and colonialism in ways that are irresponsible. However, it also can serve as a way for people who are marginalized in current SF/F fandom and costuming to get a lot of notice and bring their own cultures into the look. As much as I keep expecting to see really shitty racism in the steampunk community, I never do, and I see more diversity than I would expect. But I think it's something the steampunk community needs to be constantly on guard about and more articulate in expressing. Gender roles in steampunk also have a lot of promise -- I've seen a ton of little wilting princes in corsets and outfits about girls flying or being in the engine room. So this stuff is great. But I do think the ubiquity of corsets makes that somewhat limiting for a lot of women (espescially smaller women like me for whom corsets truly and totally restrict movement often painfully), and I think there needs to be (and there has started to be) a serious discussion in the community about what manners are expected and whether they are gender-based or role-based (there's been issues about women being cranky that people, preferably men, weren't giving up their seat to them at a function when they were in a corset and heals). By the mere subversion of the gender-roles of the Victorian era and the incorporation of the machine into and around the flesh, steampunk is automatically rather queer, so when people try to instill heteronormativity over it, mistaking that for just good manners, we have a problem.

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I was raised to be hyper aware of the appropriateness of my dress for the occasion. Part of that was we were working class and our nice stuff had to be kept nice because we couldn't afford to easily replace it. Then there were our colonial outfits for the sort of living history stuff we did. Those were for demos and certain camping trips, not for school. We also had the play clothes that were slightly too small or too worn to wear to school but fine for around the house. I've always had to think about when I'm going to wear which things.

Of course, this spills over into making the outfits. Besides choosing fabrics appropriate to the outfit, exactly where the outfit would be worn. I can't remember the last time I made something that had a single use. I make things to mix and match.

I've yet to make anything with gears on it as I've not been able to come up with a way to incorporate them without looking like the gears are slapped on. I've got ideas for belly dance jingle belt using a gear motif but have yet to figure out how to do it. (I've got fiber skills up the wazoo; metal working, not so much.)


I find properly fitted corsets to be very comfortable. They help me stand up straighter and give me more support than I'm used to. They are more comfortable when I'm on my feet for longer periods and less so when I'll be sitting down.

Did you like the zippers as closures? I've never really seen zippers used as corset closure before and wonder how well it worked.

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I didn't wade into the manners discussion because I thought that even though we're vaguely emulating Victorian society and manners, we aren't really. If you are going to wear an outfit that is uncomfortable in anyway, plan your life at the convention around it. Don't expect people to accommodate you because you have huge wings or a huge Ghost Busting back pack or a corset and bustle.

The cultural aspects of steampunk have the potential to be a huge minefield. I've found the bits that give me pause the most are those that are doing steampunk belly dance. There is often the feel that the younger ones are playing dress-up in Grannie's closet without understanding or even knowing anything at all about Colonialism and the societies that European colonists oppressed, over-rode, and nearly obliterated, not to mention highly distorted.

The love of weaponry also gives me some cause for concern. So far, I haven't felt the need for one (though a sword would be nice). The sorts of outfits I would create don't call for weapons.

My favorite steampunk photos from Dragon*Con have been those that incorporated aspects of Native American cultures into their outfits, whether it was Native American clothing with touches of tech as decoration or Victorian clothing with Native American motifs as decoration. Both continue to broaden the spectrum of what is considered part of steampunk.

I'd like to see more women's outfits that don't necessarily incorporate a corset/bodice/waist cincher. Guess I need to make my Bloomer suit, huh? ;-p

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

God, I love steampunk costuming. That's a great outfit you've got!

There's a steampunk convention here next month - nothing like enough time for me to put something together, but if they're planning on doing it annually... very tempting. OH! Suddenly occurs to me: I could steampunk my dog.

Wow. I'd love to shoot you...

[geoectomy.livejournal.com]

Sometime, if I ever haappen to be in your neck of the woods with my gear...

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

I won't lie, it's sexy as hell! It really flatters your ridiculously awesome shoulders!


(The zippers, they're PERFECT!)

Well done, rm!

[jslorentz.livejournal.com]

Love it!

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Barging in, I submit that nearly everyone wants a pith helmet at some point or another.

Hell, I came back from D*C to find J. all excited about steampunk just entirely out of the blue and wanting one.

There may be no logical explanation.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

It should be noted that I play at steampunk a little. And I specifically do not wear a corset. I found out as a teen that girdles gave me IBS. I would cramp and it was ugly. The best thing that ever happened to me was pantyhose without the tummy control! :) Yes, even tummy control was enough to start the cramps.
So I haven't compressed my stomach since. And it has thanked me for it. IBS still happens, but not everyday. Learning a Major Trigger was highly useful.
So My Costume is a Fun Socks (usually stripped), a slim skirt, a silk blouse, a nice jacket, and The Hat and Goggles. I have some fun jewelry, a locket with an old door key, a Rassilon Pendent, and a Harry Potter Time Turner. The neat thing is, except for The H&G and the locket, it is all out of the closet, and
NO CORSET.
So yes, there are those of us who deal without the corset and still have fun. And we are even dressed as girls.
I do like the bloomer idea. If I ever decide to actually make something for the costume, it would be bloomers.