Article and photos by Sophia Samuda

Steampunk is set in an era where steam power is still widely used – think 19th century.  Add prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of HG Wells, Jules Verne and Mary Shelley (scifipedia.com). Within this subculture there are many levels of dress under the umbrella of Steampunk Fashion. Today, Steampunk fashion thrives in New York City.

“The Steampunk scene is still small in Brooklyn, but growing,” explains a Steam punk enthusiast known within the Steampunk community as Ay-leen the Peacemaker, who is also the founding editor of the Beyond Victoriana Blog. Her blog is a “multicultural Steampunk blog that takes Steampunk away from its Victorian London roots to focus on how Steampunk is expressed around the world”. All of the steampunkery on the blog focuses on non-Western cultures, underrepresented minorities in Western histories (Asian / Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, First Nation, Hispanic, black / African), and the cultural intersection between the West and the non-West.”

The Brooklyn Indie Market also keeps the subculture alive with their many events with the latest being the annual Steampunk Fashion Show and Exhibition.  The designers paid homage to origins of Steampunk and celebrated its evolution to its present day existence. We had an amazing time attending the show and created a great photo gallery of our evening there. We then a went a step further by speaking to the designers and highlighting those that unveiled their latest Summer/Spring 2011 collections.

Kristin Costa launched her first ready to wear collection at the 2010 Steampunk Fashion Show, showing off her skills in detailed sculpture, knit work, corsetry and screen printing. She proclaims to love the theatrical quality of Steampunk fashion and designs for the drama of it all and it clearly showed. Styling elements consisted of a lot of feathered wings and serious metal work on corsets, and skirts. If you take away the styling, you are left with wearable everyday pieces that show off her handwork – t-shirts with custom “caged bird” inspired screen prints, multi-dimensional outerwear and outstanding knit work. The collection was impressively cohesive with colors ranging in layers of grays, blacks; muted pinks paired with lace, leather, and metal and brushed canvas fabrics. 

Karen Von Oppen has been designing couture Steampunk apparel for 25 years. She has always loved anything that was left of mainstream, falling in love with costumes and subcultures like Steampunk. “Steampunk is now a popular sub culture, it’s growing and it’s starting to make itself to mainstream and I love it so much. It represents a lot of romance and elegance and fine manners and I like to portray in my clothing.” She presented a collection of individual characters, each in their own story, A “Victorian Queen” in a custom made black and blue corset and wide draped skirt, a “Steampunk Warrior” in leather vest, tan knickers and chunky leather belt with pouch. “Military Steamstress” in a black velveteen jacket with knickers, corset belt and ruffle shirt and the “Debonair Gentleman” wearing a Brocade coat, vest and ruffle shirt.

Blooms In The Night by Veronica DeWitt: “I’m inspired by old glamour” Veronica Dewitt proclaims.  With her designs she extracts the old glamour and the tradition of perfectly made clothes from the romantic era of Steampunk.  Debuting her first collection ever at the 2010 Steampunk Fashion Show and Exhibition, her collection screams certain femininity with the use of a lot of lace.  And it’s an all dress collection, even for the man. All were draped in romantic silhouettes in colors of rich burgundies, black and white. 

L. Revival, Lead Designer and Creator for Heartless Revival was unable to grace us with her presence for the show but her design sprit was certainly felt. The collection, one of the most modern and clearly high-end consisted of one of a kind craftsmanship pieces. The emphasis was on the beautiful Victorian Goth inspired hand made Saturn shaped body armor pieces made of zippers, overlaying black knitwear and layered skirts.

Berit New York with Hats by la China: Berit New York Sp11 collection entitled ‘Retro-Futurism’ modeled the collection with hats by La China Loca.  A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, the young designer of Berit New York – Brit Frady-Williams – fresh off the plane from showing the same collection at London Fashion Week, aims to extract old world charms that live within the various themes of Steampunk and incorporate them into her designs, giving them a new life. Colors combinations were key in this collection – happy lime green and peach pastels were contrasted with navy blues.  Brit’s designs consisted more of separates with an emphasis on shapely skirts that lent a nod to the Victorian style with a lot of edge.  La China Loca’s hats complimented to the collection perfectly – a family of uniquely charismatic hats.  Some with characteristics o the fedora and others played on variations of the top hat, evidently all were well made to perfect form.

(Photo: Ay-leen in a Tuxedo, via Philip Ng)

Ay-leen the Peacemaker has attended the Steampunk Fashion Show and Exhibition for the past two years. This year, she was thrilled to be able to read with other authors and performers at the Tor.com’s Literary Corner. As a Steampunk enthusiast, she describes Steampunk Fashion as blend of classical styles with a fantastical twist thrown in. “Steampunk fashion started off from many different places, because Steampunk attracts so many different types of people.  The former punks and ‘Makers’ brought in the DIY and upcycling; the ‘cosplayers’ brought in the role-play and fantasy costuming perspective; the ‘neo-Vics’ brought in historical detail; the fashion design(ers) brought in high-end appeal. And as more people become involved in the scene, the more it changes.”

Ay-leen dresses in a non-Victorian style and designs her own outfits, “remodded thrift” that blends her Vietnamese heritage and Western upbringing in a combination of Eastern-Western influences. “Steampunk is hitting the mainstream, which means that probably there will be actually ‘Steampunk brands’ that will show up at my local Hot Topic or Forever 21.On the other hand, there are also a growing number of young fashion designers creating wonderful Steampunk items. Steampunk is more than putting goggles on your hat and walking around with gears on your shirt. It is a mindset of constant learning and innovative expression. It is figuring out how to build the better mousetrap, how to design art out of junk, how to appreciate the best of the old, how to question the norms of today by revealing the roots of its flawed past.”