Gearing Up

Brought to you by Templar, AZ: Schemepunk

“They like t’ dress up like ol’ silent movie bad guys and tie women t’ airplane runways.”

Well, I laughed.

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.

I think everyone’s heard of “atomicpunk” to describe the -punk aesthetic applied to the cold war. A few weeks ago, I offered “spypunk” for the sub-genre of high-tech, sometimes ludicrously-gadgeted spies that hearken to the same era.

Today I came across two more concepts, both more design-oriented and thus more related to Datamancer-style object modification: modpunk and eamespunk. Both are suggested somewhat facetiously, but I think it would be worth exploring what the -punk aesthetic is and what it means to apply it to the Victorian, pulp, or any other era.

Thoughts?

Some people have complained that the motorcycle styling in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was incorrect, though it was built for the film. Personally, I think it’s just evidence that Indiana Jones takes place in an alternate universe with advanced motorcycle technology.

The original three Indiana Jones films are some of the finest pieces of dieselpunk out there, even if they were made well before the term was coined. They are absolute love letters to the pulp adventures of the 30s, well-made and exciting, with a great mix of real archaeology, myth, and technology.

Varying critical opinions on the new Indy film notwithstanding, (hey, I loved it) it does raise an interesting question. Considerable time has passed since the first three films, and not just for those of us watching the movies — Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is set in 1957, a pretty late date for dieselpunk.

It is an unfortunate fact of time that it passes, and since we’re dealing with genres that are rooted in specific times (even if they don’t necessarily take place in those times) we must take into account the passage of time. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen eventually ran into this problem in The Black Dossier: given a long enough story, you will run out of Victorian era to adventure in. But does this make The Black Dossier dieselpunk?

How much does any -punk genre depend strictly on the calendar, and how much on the feel of the piece? Crystal Skull still has all the pulp feel of the first three Indy movies, despite the overhanging threat of atomic war, and the Communists as villains still feel very much like the Nazis in the first three films. I would say that all four Indiana Jones films fit firmly in the dieselpunk genre because of their feel. Indy’s can-do spirit and the sense that an adventure is always a good idea still pervade the film, and I think that says more about a genre than a date does.

The “punk” in dieselpunk and steampunk obviously derives from their predecessor, cyberpunk, which got that half of its name from the anarchic, down-with-the-man attitude endemic to cyberpunk protagonists facing a dystopian world. While the underground movements of the future may remain a mystery, the underground movements of the past provide a fertile groundwork for characters in worlds not unlike our own.

The anarchist movement is the obvious place to start. Anarchism is a political philosophy that opposes authority and mandatory government. Anarchism as a social movement began in the second half of the 19th century and continued through the twentieth, producing many sub-types of anarchist thought. Anarchy was particularly popular in Europe between World Wars, to the point where anarchist communes were built in some parts of Spain during the Spanish revolution.

An anarchist is likely to be a free spirit with a combination of idealistic goals and a willingness to stand up to authority to see them through. While most anarchists are not violent, many were and are willing to do what’s necessary for freedom as they see it.

Another major element of the punk subculture is the DIY aesthetic. If you’ve ever wondered just what’s so bad about buying bondage pants at Hot Topic, well, this is the reason. Punks are expected to do for themselves, to make and to create, rather than bowing to what the corporate and popular elements are telling them they should wear and like.

DIY is already a huge element of the steampunk community online, with many people sewing or thrifting-and-repurposing their own clothing and building their own props, or supporting the work of individuals who sell their handmade items. In many respects, it’s easier to be DIY in a group this specialized - if you’re not doing it yourself, you’re probably not doing it at all.

In general, the overwhelming theme of punk could be called a fierce individualism. This manifests in every aspect of the culture, from the proliferation of sky pirates to the refusal of many individuals to define what, exactly, the fashion is. Keep this in mind and you won’t have any trouble putting the punk in your dieselpunk.

Of course, defining steampunk is all well and good, but this blog is not at steampunk.net, we’re at dieselpunk.net! So you may be asking what dieselpunk is.

Dieselpunk is a subgenre derived from steampunk. Instead of a Victorian aesthetic and setting with steam-based technology, dieselpunk is set in the pulp era and powered, as you may have guessed from the name, by diesel engines.

Long before I knew there was a name for this genre, I was captivated by The Rocketeer, Indiana Jones, and various pulp-era stories of brave heroes confronting Nazis. (I hate those guys too, Indy!) Pulp adventure stories may seem dated now, but I still find them exciting in a way modern adventure doesn’t seem to capture any more. Instead of battling shadowy government conspiracies and evil corporations, pulp heroes battled real, obvious bad guys. It was a simpler time, and it’s easy to feel a certain nostalgia for that.

Aesthetically, dieselpunk is even less defined than steampunk is. Pilots with bomber jackets and soldiers are the most obvious inspiration, but adventurers come in all sorts of snappy clothing. Hopefully this blog will help draw attention to various elements that can be used in dieselpunk clothing and storytelling.

Ultimately dieselpunk is about confronting a rapidly-changing world with faith in science, a can-do attitude, and an uppercut for the next Nazi or Commie you meet.

I suppose it’s only fitting to start this blog with a brief discussion of the definition of steampunk. Mind you, steampunk, like most subcultures, resists most attempts to be defined. This is my opinion alone.

Steampunk began as a literary genre derived from the name cyberpunk and the use of steam power in the Victorian era that was used as the setting for those novels. While not the first in the genre, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s Difference Engine is considered one of the seminal works. I hope to include reviews and recommendations for various steampunk works in this blog.

The literary genre, the neo-Victorian aesthetic (coming largely from the goth subculture) and the fans of works such as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen eventually converged as people who had a common interest in this thing called steampunk: the philosophy, the visual aesthetic, and the social commentary.

Speaking of aesthetic, you may wonder what you can expect to find in steampunk fashion or design. Most steampunk fashion is built from Victorian or Edwardian styles, with various alterations for the mad science that tends to characterize steampunk. Gears, goggles, keys and chains ideally combine with top hats and bustles to create clothing that looks practical, stylized, and steamy. In practice, steampunk has very few “rules”.

So what is steampunk? In my opinion, it is the art of combining the best elements of the Victorian era (the fashion, the sense of wonder, and the belief that pluck and hard work will get you where you want to go) with retro-futuristic technology and a hard look at the sociopolitical underpinnings of Victorian era and its reflection in our own societies.

Steampunk is not purely about the past. It’s about appreciating what’s come before, taking the best it had to offer, and building a better future from it.

Oh, and goggles. Can’t forget the goggles.