Store Bought Steampunk
I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I am like that friend that you take shopping cause you know they will give you the honest truth… that you look like a banana in yellow and those pants are still two sizes too small.
That being said I say this with love… Honey just put it down. Just ‘cause you can find it and it is cheap does not mean you should buy it. This does not mean all things, but it should be your mantra during the October Halloween season. Just because you can walk into a SPIRIT store and find “Steampunk goggles” and a top hat doesn’t mean it is right. For the record I have a pair. I wear then when I go to the clubs ‘cause I don’t want to destroy my good ones. When I wear them they are called “quidditch goggles.”
There is a whole line of this mass produced stuff that claims to be steampunk… and steampunk it is not. Steampunk is about the individual and if you are going to buy something that reflects the culture, then get it from a small business if you don’t want to do it yourself.
Sometimes you don’t want to make something and you just want to buy it. I have done it but this stuff, the stuff from the store is still made of plastic. At least 8 out of 10 times the stuff that you get from a small business is well made with metal, where metal should go and not weird plastic stuff. Take a stand and tell them that we are not a generation for the one percent to make more money off of.
If anything, it is an insult to all the people that spend time on their outfits. This is the same with people who 1) put goggles on there top hat or 2) those people that dress up steampunk for Halloween. It is okay if you are trying it out, I have friends that dressed steampunk on Halloween and it stuck but that is not many people. It is the same as when people got to goth clubs and wear black for one night
True steampunks are not dressed in steampunk garb on Halloween. Why, because we do it all the time and Halloween is a time to dress as something you are not. We are steampunk therefore it is not our Halloween costume. Would you wear work clothes out for trick or treating?
Now as I said previously, we really appreciate that you are interested in becoming a steampunk but go slow. Make a good base with a strong historical thread inspiration and then add slowly unless you have a trade that can help make your costume better (seamstress, woodworker, electrician, etc… ). Steampunks would much rather you take the time and make something that you enjoy and we go “Holy cow, what the hell is that made of,” “What is that!” and “Where can I get one?”
What do you think? I fell so adamant about this topic that I started a Facebook page devoted to this subject.
https://www.facebook.com/
