I do find the steampunk aesthetic very appealing. Just like cyberpunk. It’s a form of escapism, but then again - what isn’t? In a world devoid of substance you make the substance up yourself.
@DRBLAW basically, it’s people that dress up in old fashioned clothing, but with a twist. They wear elaborate stuff that looks like it would be powered by steam. Lots of gears. Maybe they dress like a pirate that would fly an airship.
/image steampunk airship
/image steampunk airship pirate
@DRBLAW If you are familiar with the old TV show “Wild, Wild West”, it was steampunk long before the term steampunk even existed. While set back in the 19th century, the characters still had access to all sorts of fancy gadgetry, even though steam was still the primary source of energy. The Will Smith movie still might be termed “steampunk”, but it certainly played (more) fast and loose with what might be plausible in terms of steam-based technology.
As @thisismyusername points out, some of Jules Verne’s work might also retroactively be categorized as steampunk.
@RiotDemon Your answer gave me chuckle because it made me envision someone asking “What is Star Wars?” and the answer being, “dressing up in funny clothes and banging plastic lighted tubes together”. It is all about the cosplay and the stuff that inspires the cosplay is immaterial.
@DRBLAW It’s basically Jules Verne sci fi applied to many different kinds of settings. Sci fi with a Victorian style, machines and weapons powered by gears, steam, strange alchemical mixtures. It’s come to permeate quite a lot of the science fiction world. If you aren’t into fiction of a fantastic nature (sci fi, horror, fantasy, anime and manga, etc) then you may not have seen much of it. As an artist and costumer I have appreciation for the enormous amount of imagination people have brought to this sub genre. As someone who doesn’t fit ideals of beauty, I can have nothing but love for a costuming tradition that celebrates the plain and plump as much as the beautiful and slim. Plain? You are rocking that severe Victorian spinster with a naughty streak look. Heavy? You make that bustle so sexy. Wear glasses? Gear them up or make goggles of them. In a wheelchair? Unlimited opportunities for steampunking it up and accessorizing.
I watched the series Steampunk’d recently. The rooms and items they decorated were neat, the reality show drama that was created, was not.
/image steampunk’d
@Pantheist got to see them live a couple years ago. Surprisingly better that way than they are on CD. Wait, no, disappointingly, actually. I wish they had a live album for sale at that concert. Haha
@ConradHilton haha awesome- I don’t think they’ve ever played near me when I had the time and money. World/infeno is the same way (much better live)- or at least they were, haven’t gone to a show in a few years.
@CaptAmehrican Actually quite the opposite. Goths are all about despair and cynicism. Steampunk is drawn from a time of great hope and excitement, when technology was just beginning to change the world and people thought it was bringing nothing but wonders, when much of the world was yet to be explored and the world was also still ripe with mystery. It’s a very cool mindset to explore.
@moondrake
Goths - to me - appeared to be “about” an assumed visible attitude that includes social or public markers of despair, alienation, a romantic view of “darkness” and “dark attitudes”; and a romanticized evocation of “difference” from the perceived norms. An acting out of a slightly Victorian-style melancholy or cynicism as a setting-apart. Sort of wearing one’s “despair” on one’s sleeve.
That look can be emotionally evocative. And I understand why some (esp teenagers) are inclined that way as a sort of personal statement.
(I’m not the sort with a personal inclination toward any sort of “attitude costuming” apart from a few clothing items that are kinda fun. Steampunk is fun to look at. Costume are ok in small doses. Not sure Steampunk is fun to wear for very long.)
But I never thought goth had much to do with real despair. I’m sure a fair number of people who identity with or appear as goth experience despair in their lives; I’m not sure the incidence is higher there than in other populations.
The most seriously depressed persons I’ve known have made a point of not showing it to the world, to preserve their own privacy.
@f00l I should have instead said Goth is rooted in rather than Goths are all about. Not saying that all Goths are pessimists and all steampunkers are optimists, just that the roots of the subcultures are worlds apart.
@f00l I watch a few Goths on YouTube. I love when they show hanging out with their goth friends. They’re usually really cheerful and polite.
Most of them talk about being more polite to strangers to try and change the stigma that they’re all depressed, mean, devil worshippers.
I’m not into actual goth music, otherwise I might of gone that path. Instead I’m a metal head with an appreciation for their style. (Plus it’s too hot to wear layers and layers of velvet and heavy fabrics). I love looking at photos of gothic gentlemen.
There was a period in the '60’s when the “look” was late Victorian to Edwardian, esp for male musicians and actors. You can find pix of all the big groups of the era dressed that way, and a number of popular films released during the '60’s were set in those times. People just liked looking at he dress-up.
There should be one more answer, since I don’t know what steampunk is.
@pooflady
/image steampunk
/image steampunk dress
/image steampunk man
@pooflady
Awesome
Something you’re guaranteed to see on pretty much any SyFy show.
/giphy syfy
I do find the steampunk aesthetic very appealing. Just like cyberpunk. It’s a form of escapism, but then again - what isn’t? In a world devoid of substance you make the substance up yourself.
I still don’t know what it is
@DRBLAW
/image Kato steampunk dress
@DRBLAW basically, it’s people that dress up in old fashioned clothing, but with a twist. They wear elaborate stuff that looks like it would be powered by steam. Lots of gears. Maybe they dress like a pirate that would fly an airship.
/image steampunk airship
/image steampunk airship pirate
@DRBLAW
@RiotDemon Who are these women and where can I find them?
@DRBLAW If you are familiar with the old TV show “Wild, Wild West”, it was steampunk long before the term steampunk even existed. While set back in the 19th century, the characters still had access to all sorts of fancy gadgetry, even though steam was still the primary source of energy. The Will Smith movie still might be termed “steampunk”, but it certainly played (more) fast and loose with what might be plausible in terms of steam-based technology.
As @thisismyusername points out, some of Jules Verne’s work might also retroactively be categorized as steampunk.
@RiotDemon Your answer gave me chuckle because it made me envision someone asking “What is Star Wars?” and the answer being, “dressing up in funny clothes and banging plastic lighted tubes together”. It is all about the cosplay and the stuff that inspires the cosplay is immaterial.
@DrWorm lol. I guess I dumbed it down too much.
@DRBLAW It’s basically Jules Verne sci fi applied to many different kinds of settings. Sci fi with a Victorian style, machines and weapons powered by gears, steam, strange alchemical mixtures. It’s come to permeate quite a lot of the science fiction world. If you aren’t into fiction of a fantastic nature (sci fi, horror, fantasy, anime and manga, etc) then you may not have seen much of it. As an artist and costumer I have appreciation for the enormous amount of imagination people have brought to this sub genre. As someone who doesn’t fit ideals of beauty, I can have nothing but love for a costuming tradition that celebrates the plain and plump as much as the beautiful and slim. Plain? You are rocking that severe Victorian spinster with a naughty streak look. Heavy? You make that bustle so sexy. Wear glasses? Gear them up or make goggles of them. In a wheelchair? Unlimited opportunities for steampunking it up and accessorizing.
I watched the series Steampunk’d recently. The rooms and items they decorated were neat, the reality show drama that was created, was not.
/image steampunk’d
@RiotDemon That’s why I didn’t watch it. I will not watch anything that glamorizes meanness.
@moondrake it really is too bad because the people were very artistic, but the lame drama was so distracting.
A fantastic theme for video games, if done well.
I never got too into it, but abney park makes good music.
@Pantheist got to see them live a couple years ago. Surprisingly better that way than they are on CD. Wait, no, disappointingly, actually. I wish they had a live album for sale at that concert. Haha
@ConradHilton haha awesome- I don’t think they’ve ever played near me when I had the time and money. World/infeno is the same way (much better live)- or at least they were, haven’t gone to a show in a few years.
It’s all Babbage’s fault. He saw the future and built it with cranks and gears.
@2many2no
That’s amazing.
I love steampunk. Amazon has all sorts of steampunk lamps and other things.
Steampunk is goths wearing brown
@CaptAmehrican I chuckled.
@CaptAmehrican With plumbing attached.
@CaptAmehrican Actually quite the opposite. Goths are all about despair and cynicism. Steampunk is drawn from a time of great hope and excitement, when technology was just beginning to change the world and people thought it was bringing nothing but wonders, when much of the world was yet to be explored and the world was also still ripe with mystery. It’s a very cool mindset to explore.
@moondrake
Goths - to me - appeared to be “about” an assumed visible attitude that includes social or public markers of despair, alienation, a romantic view of “darkness” and “dark attitudes”; and a romanticized evocation of “difference” from the perceived norms. An acting out of a slightly Victorian-style melancholy or cynicism as a setting-apart. Sort of wearing one’s “despair” on one’s sleeve.
That look can be emotionally evocative. And I understand why some (esp teenagers) are inclined that way as a sort of personal statement.
(I’m not the sort with a personal inclination toward any sort of “attitude costuming” apart from a few clothing items that are kinda fun. Steampunk is fun to look at. Costume are ok in small doses. Not sure Steampunk is fun to wear for very long.)
But I never thought goth had much to do with real despair. I’m sure a fair number of people who identity with or appear as goth experience despair in their lives; I’m not sure the incidence is higher there than in other populations.
The most seriously depressed persons I’ve known have made a point of not showing it to the world, to preserve their own privacy.
@f00l I should have instead said Goth is rooted in rather than Goths are all about. Not saying that all Goths are pessimists and all steampunkers are optimists, just that the roots of the subcultures are worlds apart.
@f00l I watch a few Goths on YouTube. I love when they show hanging out with their goth friends. They’re usually really cheerful and polite.
Most of them talk about being more polite to strangers to try and change the stigma that they’re all depressed, mean, devil worshippers.
I’m not into actual goth music, otherwise I might of gone that path. Instead I’m a metal head with an appreciation for their style. (Plus it’s too hot to wear layers and layers of velvet and heavy fabrics). I love looking at photos of gothic gentlemen.
@RiotDemon
There was a period in the '60’s when the “look” was late Victorian to Edwardian, esp for male musicians and actors. You can find pix of all the big groups of the era dressed that way, and a number of popular films released during the '60’s were set in those times. People just liked looking at he dress-up.
Another big look was poet’s or bard’s clothes.
@f00l Gackt in Malice Mizer. So bishonen.
@moondrake Gackt reminds me of
/image black butler
Edit note: after Google searching, turns out Gackt was cosplaying that character in that photo.
Caution - webcomic archive ahead. I’ll just leave this here.
@cj0e Thanks.
Awesome…Buy my glasses!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/142258112268?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649