Gearing Up

Fashion Week is the talk of every style blog right now. As usual, there are a few interesting things that could go in a steamy or dieselpunk direction. I found Alexander McQueen’s Fall 2008 Menswear show particularly interesting. A few of his pieces (such as the jacket shown here) would work as steampunk couture virtually without editing, but more exiting to me is the way he blends traditional and modern styles. Citing his time in Asia (India, Nepal and Bhutan) as inspiration for the look, he’s created a fascinating example of the mashup look that so many steampunks pursue.

While the result sometimes looks over the top (as haute couture is almost by definition) it is a good reminder that we do not need to play it safe - certainly the historical Victorians did not, and our steampunk alter-egos are even more prone to a devil-may-care attitude. It’s easy to fall back on looking at historical costumes and reproducing them. While this can produce some stunning costumes, the true standouts of the steampunk look know when to add the unexpected, giving their style a true sense of history - and fashion - that never was.

Costuming is one of the safest places to take risks. After all, if you don’t like a vest or a jacket, you can take it off. If you don’t like a collar, you can modify it. You can always pull your stitching out and start over. When you feel like you’re getting too settled in your historical influences, go ahead and mix it up a bit with an unusual cultural influence or a clever modern element. Even if it doesn’t work, it might inspire you to something else - and if it does work, you’ll have a look that stands out from the crowd.

Over on flickr, section_dor has started a photostream dedicated entirely to photos of steampunk fashion. Many of the photos are from haute couture runway shows that appeal to the steampunk aesthetic, but some are from subculture fashion and other sources. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re looking for some serious inspiration for your steampunk costuming.

While most are far beyond the price range of us mere mortals, and many are a bit more fantasy than practical couture, there are two good things about the presence of steampunk elements in high fashion. First, of course, they can inspire our clothing choices even if we’re not copying the more outrageous elements of the costumes. Second, high fashion trickles down, eventually ending up in your local Macy’s or Target where those accessories are affordable and where you may even find it translated into a style that’s suitable for everyday wear as well as high tea and promenade aboard the move fashionable of airships.

In the early part of the 20th century, many people in both Europe and America became quite fascinated with the Mysterious East. While treatment of those actually from the mysterious east was rather wretched, the both easterners and westerners were happy to borrow superficial details from each other’s culture, and this is well-reflected in late Victorian and Edwardian fashion. Whether you’re actually Asian and want to dress the part or you want to play a proto-otaku, there’s plenty of historical precedent for mixing up western and eastern dress.

The West’s fascination with Asian style is usually traced to the 1909 debut of the Ballets Russes in Paris. From this inspiration, many of the major French designers began incorporating Asian elements into their designs.
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Your odds of finding the perfect pilot’s goggles at your local thrift store may be thin, but the chance of coming across a perfect bomber jacket for your pilot persona is surprisingly good. The trick to a good thrift experience is knowing what to look for, so here are some tips.

• Look And You Will Find
  You may not come across the perfect jacket the first time you go out. In fact, odds are good you won’t. The trick is persistance. Try a couple stores. Try them again in a week or two. Keep trying.
• Wait For the Perfect Price
  Some thrift stores, seeking to capitalize on the hipsters who waste too much money thrifting, have started pricing up things they think such shoppers will like. Sometimes those are also the things you like. Wait, and they will go on sale - or maybe you won’t get them. Don’t worry. If you wanted to pay more than you could afford, you’d be shopping at the mall, after all.
• Don’t Settle
  Don’t buy the first leather jacket you spot on the rack. Check out the color and the shape the leather is in. Is it cracking? Are there mysterious stains? Try it on. Don’t just ask yourself if you can pull it over your shoulders, make sure it fits well and is comfortable.
• Appreciate Character
  At the same time, you’re probably not going to find a pristine, vintage leather bomber jacket. The bomber jacket style is fairly timeless, however, and a little modding at home will take you a long way. You want your jacket to look like it’s lived through a few zeppelin explosions.

Hopefully these tips will help you to find the perfect bomber jacket for your next mission. If you have any other tips, feel free to share them in the comments.

It’s Wednesday, so let’s have a costume post, shall we?

I happened across a page on Stalinist fashion on The Costumer’s Manifesto, and this men’s jacket caught my eye. The book it’s from is dated 1956 but I don’t think it would be too out of place on a Russian a decade earlier. It’s a very simple style and is described as a very common style, particularly the front of the jacket.

In fact, it looks quite a bit like the uniform that was popularized in Communist China as well. It’s very utilitarian and doesn’t require a great deal of tailoring, so that doesn’t surprise me. A Russian overseas might very well wear one of these, particularly if he’s escaping the early stages of the Stalinist regime with his brilliant-but-mad scientific ideas. Communist activists might wear them as well, though if you’re supposed to be under cover, I wouldn’t recommend it for obvious reasons.

For an idea what they looked like in practice, take a look at this jacket, an actual piece from the 1930s. The high collar is very similar. It features two breast pockets rather than the lower pockets shown in the sketch, but is still very utilitarian. The Communist style can’t be beat if you’re the kind of person who has to carry lots of little things on your person.

Ladies will want to check out the jackets near the top of the page. They’re not the most stylish things in the world, but particularly the one on the left has some definite potential. With a bit of tailoring, it would look absolutely smashing on a femme fatale.

Speaking of femme fatales, don’t worry too much about tailoring your Communist clothes. Shots of Cate Blanchett on the set of the new Indiana Jones movie make it clear that even the apparently unappealing Communist uniform can be quite smashing if you wear it with the right attitude.

I think it’s a shame we don’t see more Russian-inspired costumes, especially in steampunk. The country has a very dark fantasy feel in the imaginations of many despite its scientific progress in the last century. Perhaps the popularity of the Night Watch series will attract more attention to the character and storytelling possibilities of Russia both now and then.