Steampunk fashion. Discussion, praise, sneering etc

[Balbi]

Do you still get excited when you find red or blue jelly beans doggy?

 

[JCB]

yay

 

[Pip]

no, this is stupid Victorian nostalgia for a bygone mythology and power we once had and as such is dead end suspect bullshit

Do you think that extends to fashion? Because I think I do.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Proper steam or cyberpunk fiction certainly takes that sort of thing into account. It's easier with steampunk since you can look back at fashion developments that came about as a result of manufacturing techniques but Gibson et al are certainly full of fashion projections.

"Steampunk fashion" and "cyberpunk fashion" nowadays are nothing to do with that. Generally afficionados of the literature can't stand the fashion types IME.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Never heard of him. If he's into cyberpunk/steampunk, that can only be a good thing.

The only creative effort involving steampunk that has ever impressed me and broken through the generalised "no, this is stupid Victorian nostalgia for a bygone mythology and power we once had and as such is dead end suspect bullshit" reaction I've always had against it was one of the storylines from Nemesis the Warlock which involves a Victorian England that never lost its power and now rules the world.

Except I seem to remember that there was a good deal of knowing "this is what all the British right-wing would really want" irony in it.

I seem to remember Torquemada possibly being a prominent member of the state, which if you know anything about Nemesis the Warlock indicates that even the writers held the universe they had created in a degree of contempt.

Actually, I think I may be wrong about that. The Victorian England lot were a bunch of aliens who had aped Victorian England's style through radio broadcasts.

You HAVE read The Difference Engine yes? Actually I'm imagining not.

Also, yes, you're right in the last paragraph iirc, it wasn't meant to be an alternate timeline though it was certainly satire.

 

[isitme]

Do you still get excited when you find red or blue jelly beans doggy?

 

[DotCommunist]

Proper steam or cyberpunk fiction certainly takes that sort of thing into account. It's easier with steampunk since you can look back at fashion developments that came about as a result of manufacturing techniques but Gibson et al are certainly full of fashion projections.

"Steampunk fashion" and "cyberpunk fashion" nowadays are nothing to do with that. Generally afficionados of the literature can't stand the fashion types IME.

IME steampunk fictions are centered around crashed/fallen high tech peoples making do with older techniques. See 'Chasm City'

 

[Pip]

Proper steam or cyberpunk fiction certainly takes that sort of thing into account. It's easier with steampunk since you can look back at fashion developments that came about as a result of manufacturing techniques but Gibson et al are certainly full of fashion projections.

"Steampunk fashion" and "cyberpunk fashion" nowadays are nothing to do with that. Generally afficionados of the literature can't stand the fashion types IME.

What I mean is, sometimes I look at people who are heavily into 30s/40s/50s fashions or whatever, and find myself thinking "hmm, do you think things were so rosy in this era you fetishise?" and wonder about their world view.

 

[subversplat]

I've never understood what any of it has to do with punk

 

[FridgeMagnet]

IME steampunk fictions are centered around crashed/fallen high tech peoples making do with older techniques. See 'Chasm City'

No, not really. Because there is steam technology involved or other retrotech does not something steampunk any more than having cybernetics makes something cyberpunk. It's a question of examining the historical and social effects of counterfactual technology in the same way that proper cyberpunk examines that of the near future.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I've never understood what any of it has to do with punk

Not a lot. Steampunk is named after cyberpunk, and that was a crap name in the first place, which was only really called "punk" because it was a bit disrespectful of existing sci fi tropes and traditions.

 

[DotCommunist]

No, not really. Because there is steam technology involved or other retrotech does not something steampunk any more than having cybernetics makes something cyberpunk. It's a question of examining the historical and social effects of counterfactual technology in the same way that proper cyberpunk examines that of the near future.

Oh, there is some of that in Meville's works. The idea of Thaumaturgy as a system welded to industrial revolution tech.

And the social/historical implications thereof. Ken Macloud does something similar with his soviet wettech vs US hardtech stuff.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

What I mean is, sometimes I look at people who are heavily into 30s/40s/50s fashions or whatever, and find myself thinking "hmm, do you think things were so rosy in this era you fetishise?" and wonder about their world view.

The people who actually dress up and go to parties won't, it's just going to be a bit of fun for them and I doubt they've spent ages thinking it all through. I'm sure there are people who do golden-age the periods though.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Oh, there is some of that in Meville's works. The idea of Thaumaturgy as a system welded to industrial revolution tech.

And the social/historical implications thereof. Ken Macloud does something similar with his soviet wettech vs US hardtech stuff.

Mieville's stuff is proper *punk; it's very concerned with those themes. The technology might be sometimes fantastical but it's exploring a number of real political issues. I'm not at all a fan of "magical steampunk" but I make my one exception for him.

 

[longdog]

Do you still get excited when you find red or blue jelly beans doggy?

Doesn't everybody?

 

[longdog]

The people who actually dress up and go to parties won't, it's just going to be a bit of fun for them and I doubt they've spent ages thinking it all through. I'm sure there are people who do golden-age the periods though.

Having had the misfortune to attend a 50s revival night (don't ask) I think the worst ones are the ones who were 'there' at the time.

I'm not a 'grow old gracefully' man by a long way but it's difficult to pull off the Teddy Boy look when you're seventy

says the 44 year old with a half-arsed mohawk

 

[Pip]

The people who actually dress up and go to parties won't, it's just going to be a bit of fun for them and I doubt they've spent ages thinking it all through. I'm sure there are people who do golden-age the periods though.

Yeah, liking a tea dress is liking a tea dress and nothing more, I agree. I'm going to work on this theory and as an added bonus it gives me a valid excuse for hating rockabillies

 

[longdog]

Yeah, liking a tea dress is liking a tea dress and nothing more, I agree. I'm going to work on this theory and as an added bonus it gives me a valid excuse for hating rockabillies

As if an excuse were needed.

 

[Diamond]

Do you think that extends to fashion? Because I think I do.

I don't know. It's a difficult question, which is not helped by the fact that I'm pretty ignorant of the world of fashion.

But, yes, I have always had an instinctive suspicion towards people who go for big retro trends of any style.

In particular when it verges towards people wearing a costume and adopting a whole persona and spending time in places that fit in with that context, I don't know, it seems like a retreat rather than anything that is original in a creative context.

 

[longdog]

I've just noticed the tags.

'silly goth twats'

 

[teuchter]

Although I'm sort of familiar with the aesthetic it refers to, I hadn't actually heard the term "steampunk" used until today.

Anyway -

Steampunk.

 

[strung out]

dickheads

 

[stupid dogbot]

Errr... right. Thanks for that.

 

[pogofish]

I remember that pic from the last Steampunk thread.

 

[Termite Man]

dickheads

I'd go for twats personally but both are adequate descriptions !

 

[teuchter]

I sense an antipathy. Is steampunk worse than normal punk then?

 

[stupid dogbot]

Well, there's more music and a lot less fake guns in normal punk, I suppose...

Tbh, that photo just looks like some university dressing up societies' xmas party.

 

[killer b]

I sense an antipathy. Is steampunk worse than normal punk then?

it's more a lame goff offshoot than anything to do with punk. weirdos fixated with sherlock holmes instead of dracula.

 

[SaskiaJayne]

The Vibrators are proper punk & still doing gigs.

 

[Balbi]

The last Steampunk thread...

I didn't go to the party in the end. Effort.