Then again, since it started an hour and a half late, maybe they figured it would all even out in the end. :)
Besides, I can't be too upset; it was a really fabulous 15 minutes.
The first model moved like a queen. She was so confident and regal that it took me a moment to realize that steampunk "accessory" was actually her lower arm.
The models all did some lovely poses: here this one is bent over backwards. The music was fantastic, too; a clockwork, whimsical kind of vibe. If anyone out there knows what it was, please let me know in the comments!
I believe each designer had three pieces, so you'll notice similar groupings in that number. (I don't have every piece, though; we missed a few due to poor lighting/focus.)
Black and white striped corsets rock.
One of my favorites:
I love short, full skirts with boots!
This is one of my favorite photos of the show:
I like all the gold tones. (Shame the pic is so blurry.)
This next designer has a younger style that I thought was adorable:
So cute! Love the hemline.And this is probably my favorite of the whole show:
I guess I have a little Lolita in me.
There were also a few men's styles, but this was the only really interesting one:
He had a tailor's theme: he flourished a pair of scissors at one point, and had spools of thread wrapped around one hip.
Believe it or not, John really liked this. Which shocks me, since he's been completely adverse to kilts (and, I would assume, corsets) up until now. Personally I prefer corsets on girls, but I have to agree that the rest of it is pretty awesome.
Cute pantie ruffle!
The exposed dress hoop swung around a lot while she was moving, like a pendulum. The movement was interesting, but the fact that her gloves were draped over it made it look a little like a portable clothes line. Heh.
And that's the show! If any of you have pics of the dresses I missed, please e-mail them to me! There was another cute schoolgirl design and a beautiful teal dress that I'd like to include here, if possible.
UPDATE: Leah And Mark, two photographers based in Atlanta, have posted some fabulous shots of the show recently. Here are the two outfits I missed that I really loved:
More adorableness. Anyone know where I can get boots like this? :)And here's the teal skirt I mentioned:
Her corset has a porthole! With an orange fish! LOVE!!Be sure to check the rest of Leah and Mark's gallery for more great shots.
Loved the steampunk lolita! So cute!
ReplyDeleteWell I wasn't there, sadly, so I can't help out with the music but if you haven't heard them already, you must check out Abney Park, a very awesome steampunk band, and really how I fell in love with the genre.
ReplyDeleteI WANT that steampunk lolita dress! seeng as i am a thirteen year old girl, with a fivr dolar allowance, and zer sewing ability, that isn't going to happen.
ReplyDeleteHey, Jen, since you've had so much Steampunk stuff lately, I thought I'd share with you THE most amazing drum kit ever. Attended a Rush concert with the hubster recently (he's a huge fan, me... not so much), and their set was Steampunkish. Neil Peart, an amazing drummer, is known for these huge 360 degree drum kits, and this was one completely tricked out Steampunk style. SO cool!
ReplyDeleteLoved your D*C pix, looks like a fun time!
I LOVE the black dress on the girl with the deep purple hair! I would SO wear that!
ReplyDelete@ Jules, comment #2
ReplyDeleteI love Abney Park, too!
You know, I think the man in the corset is interesting. In Victorian times it was actually NOT unheard of for men to wear the corset as well, under the clothes, as a sort of back brace. Even babies (of both genders) were sometimes put in corsets because their backs were :"weak". Of course a man's corset would not have been cinched in quite the same way as woman's to give that sort of "hour-glass" shape. I am quite enamored of steam-punk recently. I think it is a beautiful aesthetic.
ReplyDeleteI honestly am a bit disappointed by the lack of gadgets and gizmos. I think those are essential to the steampunk style.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to see how fashion enthusiasts have translated (and embellished) the steampunk style from the anime (at least my first exposure to steampunk was through anime so I think of it as coming first, so to speak).
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
The kilt and corset guy's sewing accessories reminded me of the Mad Hatter's (Tim Burton version, natch).
The girl with the dark purple hair and the guy in the corset are made by the same person I got MY corset from. http://www.scoundrelleskeep.com/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Scoundrelles-Keep/101197304330
I so need to make a skirt like the bright blue one she had at Dragon Con. She custom made my corset, I got to pick the fabrics and hardware and it was pretty affordable and the attention to detail she uses is phenomenal!
Good luck with the steampunking!
i never heard of steam punk until this website, but i find it interesting and i love the colours. but based on your previous blogs, i was expecting more cogs and wheels in the outfits.
ReplyDeleteIs this the teal dress you are looking for? facebook page and direct link in case that fails <a href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs599.snc4/57937_423218204330_101197304330_4925883_3928342_n.jpg>the picture</a>
ReplyDeleteI sadly was not at dragon*con, but my friend modeled this dress and had a lot of fun. =) If the album link works there are a lot of pictures there.
Jen, I thought of you when I just saw this: Steampunk in Paper!
ReplyDeleteThey misplaced the decimal point! D'oh!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to agree with 'Anonymous.' Most of these designs, while interesting and beautiful, lack the mechanical element typically seen in the steampunk style. I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed.
ReplyDeleteLove all the pics! Thank you so much for sharing, since I couldn't make it to the Con.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous, I agreee with you about the lack of gadgets. To me it is the working pieces that make the steampunk, well, steam! The outfits are awesome, though.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Anony, do not let the $5 allowance hinder you, nor lack of sewing skills. Have someone take you to the resale shops, especially Goodwill, Salvation Army, Bluebird, hospice support shops, etc. On the Lolita outfit, for instance, find a wide banded skirt that would fit around your chest, a frilly white blouse and a petty coat. I bet a dollar of your allowance that you'd also find boots, gloves, the odd umbrella and hats. You would be surprised what you could put together for really, really cheap. Give it a go, grrl!
I was there, too! Was it just me or was it a little weird that some of the outfits were displayed twice? A lot of the costumes were less Steampunky than I thought they'd be but were still impressive..
ReplyDelete@Suzanne:
ReplyDeleteMen also wore corsets in the Victorian Era to make themselves slimmer looking, to get rid of that pot belly or beer belly for example and so they wouldn't look like old fat guys. But that was more just a thing dandies did (dandies nowadays are considered "metrosexuals"). It wasn't all men of course.
And Abney Park is awesome.
love these set of photos. Your blog has inspired me a bit on my Halloween costume for next year. I'm going as Steampunk Anne Boleyn. I'm making my dress/costume to the style in which she wore to her beheading. I can't wait to get started on it. If you'd like Jen, I'll send you the progress of it since I know how much you love steampunk
ReplyDeleteI love Abney Park too, their website is amazing:
ReplyDeletewww.abneypark.com
Those are so great. I love the steampunk lolita.
ReplyDeleteMona: Some girls went out twice because they were wearing another designer's handmade wigs. :) So, once for the outfits and then once for the wigs.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually the girl in the pigtails giving you guys an invite to my "gun show" haaha
My housemate is the designer I am wearing--Megan Maude.
Thanks for taking this photos :D
Because of you, I have totally fallen in love with steampunk. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
ReplyDeleteOoh the ideas this gives me! *runs off to sketch* Wish I was better at drawing humans.
ReplyDeleteAmazing stuff. I really have to get to a con sometime soon. Thanks for sharing!
Please let your beloved know that EVERYone is sexier in a kilt.
ReplyDeleteMy sister was at Dragon Con. She was the Steampunk Poison Ivy. Her friends dressed up as Harley Quinn and Catwoman. I imagine my mom made the costume. She makes all of my sister's Dragon Con costumes.
ReplyDeleteMy sister was also the one lying around with the PASIV. My dad made that.
http://www.epicslant.com/2010/09/dragoncon-2010-day-one/
Not sure about the music at the show.. but if you want something that sounds a little windup check out Aphex Twin's Nannou from their Windowlicker - EP.
ReplyDeleteMan, the more I learn about it, the more I am loving steampunk. I love these costumes. I wonder if the lack of accessories is so you can really study the costumes themselves directly, then add your own gadgets and gizmos later...?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking my own steampunk costume is going to have a 9 theme to it... Now to start coming up with clever ways to put it together because I am SO not a seamstress!
I would simply LOVE to wear outfits like this! It would also be fun to model them.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure of any Steampunk artists around here, though I might have to do some research now.
I know that I have always been drawn to things like this, but I actually didn't really know it was part of a genre of art.
Hmm...how about a steampunk Lois from The Family Guy?
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of steampunk prior to reading your blogs and I thought it was pretty interesting up until now. I guess maybe it's just not for me because I didn't like any of the outfits in the fashion show. My least favorite was the men's one...yuck. Don't really like kilts or corsets. Oh well, everything else you've posted from Dragon*Con was cool.
ReplyDeleteDo I remember correctly that you're a VeggieTales fan too? My kids are watching Star of Christmas right this minute. It suddenly dawns on me that the Veggie Victorian rocket sleigh is totally steampunk!
ReplyDeleteI never knew before reading your blogs, Jen, that steampunk was a "thing." Now I'm seeing it everywhere! Ummm...thanks? No, really, I had no idea what an unconscious steampunk fan I was! I think Riven started it for me.
Work that kilt baby!
ReplyDeleteI'm quite new to steampunk, but after looking at these (awesome!) pictures, I'm a tad mixed up -- I thought steampunk was Victorian? There are a lot of baroque-era and closer to antebellum than Victorian inspired dresses. (I'm a reenactor of sorts.) So where does steampunk gets it's origin?
ReplyDeleteAlso, re: corset -- men wore corsets into the antebellum period, though generally they were men of means. Children were put in stays, the precursor to corsets, the purpose was to help in support and posture. Boys left their stays and girls kept them on. (And stays are waaayyy more comfy than the Victorian or later corsets.)
If you haven't seen the movie Micmacs yet you should! There is a nice soundtrack with lots of steampunky mechanical sounds.
ReplyDeleteHey that's me in the kilt and was one of the designers represented at the show.
ReplyDeleteThe general aesthetic for "Steampunk" is really nothing more the the Victorian "Steam boat era" and setting it into the future. A sort of Romantics view on tomorrow. If you throw time travel into the mix you can really put a spin on ANY time in history, but most people in the community tend to keep it within the Victorian Era which encompasses 1837 to 1900.
Cogs Gears and Goggles are often used in steampunk as a way easily label a look as "Steam". But not unlike the Goth community with it's bat wings and crucifix's, such symbolism can be abused and leave you looking like a Hot Topic customer.
As to the "lack of accessories" this was a Fashion Show, which is not to be confused with a costume collection. I myself, as most of the other designers to my knowledge, are fashion designers by trade and don't cater heavily to props. Props can often hinder the viewers from being able to see the details in the work.
If you want to look up a bunch of steampunk musicians, I recommend going to Steamcon.org and looking at their "Music" section. There are a bunch of artist that will perform throughout that weekend and I believe there are links to the band sites. Though Abney Park, Vernian Process and Unwoman are three "big names" out there. I also recommend Caravan Palace.
ReplyDeleteYou know, have you ever heard of The Great Dickens Christmas Faire, in San Francisco. I think it's right up your alley. Especially the steampunk corner/day they have. Absolutely beautiful!
ReplyDeleteJust so you know, the time listed for the fashion show was incorrect. It was supposed to start around 5 - 5:30. There was another Steampunk event going on before the fashion show and for some reason they were listed together. The confusion about the time had a lot of people waiting a long time and some left, not getting a chance to see a great show! One of the designers, Megan Maude, is my daughter and she was running the fashion. She wasn't too happy about the time being wrong on the schedule. Glad you enjoyed the show!
ReplyDeletei was searching your site for inspiration for my own steampunk costume and re-discovered this post (of course i saw it when it first came up!!)
ReplyDeletei saw what you said about the music and i thought "i bet that was roustabout" so i found a video...and i was right!! its a song my firespinning troop used for a performance and its by beatz antique (remixed by bassnectar) heres the youtube linkage! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHhzY6VLqAk
Awesome! You got a couple good ones of me in the Steampunk Fashion show. I'm in Images 5695 & 5738.
ReplyDeleteMy Twitter page
I know Im a year late and you probably already know this but the tailor themed man in the corset is Aaron canney . He is a designer who you can now follow on facebook through the house of canney. He has a lot of awesome designs. Just thought you (or john) would like to know.
ReplyDeleteThe boots are Hanna in Cognac from Carlos by Carlos Santana. You can find them at macy's online or norstrom rack. I have a pair, and not only are they super comfy, they compliment just about any steampunk outfit. ^^
ReplyDelete