Blogosphere Couture: Steampunks

Vintage, goth, and faux antiquity are already everywhere in the world of fashion. Why stop there? Let us see how Edison’s olden days have inspired the sophistication not discovered until centuries ahead. Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used-usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England-but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date.

Steampunk’s first known popularly as a subgenre for fiction novels or graphic novels; presently steampunk is commonly associated with gadgets and electronics, such as laptops, clocks, toys, watches, even turn your yellow duckie into Frankenstein-like robot if you like. Steampunk also has been imposed into other art forms, such as music and graphic design, creating its own suburbia in world’s hi-tech metropolis environment. As Steampunk magazine describes its philosophy: “Before the age of homogenization and micro-machinery, before the tyrannous efficiency of internal combustion and the domestication of electricity, lived beautiful, monstrous machines that lived and breathed and exploded unexpectedly at inconvenient moments. It was a time where art and craft were united, where unique wonders were invented and forgotten, and punks roamed the streets, living in squats and fighting against despotic governance through wit, will and wile. Even if we had to make it all up.”. Right on.

As of this article, the spotlight is on steampunk as hardware exterior modification art. Why steampunk for modding? Steampunk art is greatly influenced by the structures and materials used in the Industrial Revolution era, whereas in the period textures and shapes are derived from steam-powered mechanism–not because it’s aesthetically designed to look that way. Then, at present days, steampunk artists recreated it more of as aesthetic quality applied on modern technology such as iPods, LCD monitors, Gibson guitars, and so forth.

Enjoying steampunk is stepping into the realms of Twelve Monkeys, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Allan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Harry Potter’s Gryffindor loo; it’s being Dr. Hyde to being a Klingon. The mods are sexy in rusty faux-antique kind of way, and the monstrous machine look took ingenious attention to details and materials. As a matter of fact I have a steampunked gadget too, my Dell laptop’s keyboard lost its S key cap, hence whenever I press the letter S, I got electrocuted–apple’s silicon keypads are nothing compared to that. The minus points are if you’re more into clean, professional, and minimalist look, you’ll raise your eyebrows wondering why people would spend extra money on your (great-great-great-great-grandma’s) junk; gadgeteers might also disfavour things that are too artsy and gaslight romantic, which needs extra care and not flexible for everyday mobile activities.

Even though steampunk has become the gadget modding awesomeness in North America, Japan, and Canada (those steampunk artists are so going to cut my atoms to tiny little pieces for me saying as if it’s trendy, but you got the point.), it isn’t exactly meant for mass production; the complex craftsmanship of steampunk made its artifacts some sort of rare and collectible items. Speaking of craftsmanship, steampunk modification is all about adding bronze, brass, chrome, metal plates, motor gears, bolts, and dark eerieness to the details. Take a look on how to steampunk-mod an IBM keyboard. If you think that’s hard, there have been steampunk case mods on tower PCs, guitars, and even an office got steampunked; worry not, there’s the iPod Gelaskins Steampunk skin which basically consists of stickers.

View pictures below to take a closer look. Pictures taken from Gizmodo, Steampunk Workshop, and RPG Motivational.

Also check out for more steampunk art and fashion here.