Steampunk cosplay fashion takes Victorian fashion as a basis and turns it into something historically unimaginable. This is especially true of women’s fashion. Steampunk fashion includes clothes, hairstyles, jewelry, body modification and makeup. Modern steampunk ideals might include t-shirts with varied designs or modest jeans, complete with belts and pistol holsters.
Steampunk, whimsical, and slightly theatrical, appeals to ladies and gentlemen with an inventive streak: a boring, plastic world can’t go wrong with a stylish tuning of copper, wood, and steel.
Today, steampunk is a modern subculture that is widespread in design, graphics, sculpture, and computer game development. The main difference of style is in the specific mechanical accessories. In clothing, steampunk is manifested through leather elements, stylish goggles, and shiny copper.
Aristocrats at that time wore exquisite top hats, tailcoats and trousers, combined with lace shirts and coats. Girls attracted attention with corsets and crinolines with a hood on their heads. Stockings with garters harmoniously completed the image of liberated ladies. The workers wore caps, boots, and jackets. Among the fashionable accessories, smoking pipes and pocket watches with chains were the most noticeable. Fantastic technologies of the era are reflected in the image of young people of the 21st century.
What are the main elements of steampunk fashion?
Shirt with corsage.
For starters, this is not a corset. It is underwear and can never be seen from under the clothes. The purpose of the corset is to slim the waist, creating the preferred hourglass silhouette. The upper part of a woman’s clothing, reminiscent of a corset, is called a corsage. It is purely decorative. Historically, a bodice was called a sleeveless blouse, with lacing in front, and was part of women’s peasant and work clothes. Among aristocrats, the upper part of a woman’s dress was called a corsage, often in the 17th-18th centuries with a solid lining. A shirt with a bodice can be found in a number of subcultures of the late 20th century, including Goths, Lolitas, etc. Women wearing a corsage is sexualizing, as the name evokes a corset, an item which has the erotic stigmas of being undergarments. Considering all this, there’s nothing wrong with letting a woman who is sexually attractive wear something that reminds us of her underwear. Secondly, the steampunk corsage does not close, but lifts the chest, visually emphasizing it and making it more voluminous. At the same time, this makes your waist look much slimmer!
Women’s pants.
When it comes to women’s fashion, trousers were slower to be adopted. They first started in the early 1900s and their adoption was gradual. The most common types of trousers at this time were worn under skirts or harem pants that looked like a skirt. Like a bodice, trousers on a woman are quite sexy. And unlike the last element, they have practical uses too – they’re more comfortable and last longer. While women are now emancipated, the rise of them wearing trousers happened gradually and not everywhere at the same time. It is natural and inevitable that they also wear trousers in today’s workplace. If the world of steampunk is not a specific time point of the Victorian era, but an alternative development of history in which the era of steam lasted longer than in reality, women’s trousers in such a world could well and even should be acceptable.
Shirt and blouse.
Steampunk Blouses and Shirts for Women should fit closely to the body, with fabric folds near the neck. However, sleeve length does not matter. Shorter models will naturally match long gloves. When choosing a color pattern, pay attention to neutral pastel colors.
This blouse is quintessential to the fashion of Victorian times. It can be worn shorter or longer depending on what you want, but it always contains special overlays that make it more than one layer and give it a flattering shape and volume.
Double-breasted jackets and coats.
Some types of clothing may have originated in the military, but that doesn’t mean they can only be used as a part of military uniforms. So in this case, it is safe to say that these double-breasted coats are great for anyone looking for an impressive yet stylish style. Yes, and if there are giant airships, floating fortresses and such we need people for them. A double-breasted mid-length uniform with two rows of buttons would suit
This was a great way to show that military personnel have civilian fashion. For example, men’s double-breasted coats looked very elegant, like overcoats with a satin lining.
Shoes.
The Victorian era provides a wide selection of shoes. If boots or stilettos take pride of place in your wardrobe, decorate them with metal details that you can buy at any market. But if you’re tired of uncomfortable shoes, feel free to wear high-heeled leather boots with flat soles. They’re suitable for both pantsuits and dresses.
You can combine modern and Victorian styles with the help of themed accessories.
The headdress is the most noticeable element of the costume. Any type of hat is suitable for women. From short, bright veils to tall top hats. It is appropriate to place a metal part such as a gear on them. In steampunk, the cylinder becomes a hanger for all sorts of stray items – from glasses and chains to unknown mechanisms. A typical, steampunk combination is the top hat, which repeats the finishes of typical Victorian era women’s hats. They then just became quite cumbersome and gravitated towards creating complex compositions in the form of birds or flowers. You can find cylinders with lace, in which there is no point, except as a reminder of, again, women’s underwear.
Gloves are an essential element of the costume. To emphasize shocking, choose models with cut-off fingers. Product material: thin elastic lace or soft leather. The length of the gloves can be adjusted to taste. Mittens are “fingerless” gloves, which in the 19th century had an exclusively decorative function in a woman’s costume. In steampunk, black lace or thin kid mittens have taken root and this is a very successful borrowing. You can also put some accessories on such gloves, for example, a watch or a bracelet, or something more useful.
Some people consider the original design of Spectacles to be reminiscent of the mad scientists popular in Victorian Era. Aviator glasses are a distinct accessory of Victorian Era. Colored lenses and round shape of Spectacles help you to stand out from the crowd and attract attention. They can be decorated with steel accents and leather details
A brown leather belt with a rough bronze finish is a great way to toughen up your look. It has several pockets where you can store your keys or phone.
The final touch before going out is handmade steampunk jewelry. Unusual brooches, earrings, rings and pendants for girls are assembled on chains or a jewelry cable from screws, gears, nuts and bolts. You can also add beads, stones or rhinestones to your creation to make it more glamorous. Men’s Steampunk jewelry is also very popular: Signet rings and leather bracelets with built-in watch dials or navigation devices are very popular.
Steampunk fashion has evolved into an expressive and creative way to dress. It’s not just about what you wear, but also the attitude that comes with it. Over the years, steampunk has expanded beyond simple retro fashion to become a powerful feeling within the clothing world. Modern trends in steampunk can be broken down into these two main categories: Historical re-enactment & sci-fi cosplaying. Since the first similar convention back in 2006, SalonCon, many gatherings of likeminded people with a love for all things steampunk have been held across the world. These events provide a good opportunity to experience and explore this trend within yourself. Layering clothing with metal and leather materials is a staple of modern steampunk outfits. More recently, steampunk has also been closely associated with cross-dressing fetishes, the genderqueer community, and contemporary pagan spirituality.
One of the most popular sub-genres in costume design is steampunk fashion. In 2010, it found its way back to the high-end fashion market when John Galliano brought it to his Christian Dior couture show as one of his spring haute couture items. Another designer that’s associated with the movement is Jean Paul Gaultier, who often has corsets in different materials in his collections. As of recently, steampunk fashion has begun influencing more mainstream trends.
