Steampunk is adventure, fantasy. It hones in on an historical time, the Victorian Era, when many industrial machines had yet to be invented and there were still unexplored worlds a steamship away. Wonderment and astonishment were everyday experiences as technology progressed rapidly, and the world began its long journey towards hyper-connectedness. The Internet Age has made our modern society a place seemingly devoid of anything left to explore or discover. And so Steampunk appears to be mining the past for a time when the world was ripe with possibility and adventure. Steampunk is a way of creating sublime awe within an apathetic, overly-connected, jaded culture.

The literary origins of Steampunk during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and how it began to congeal as a lifestyle in the first few years of the 21st century, have been explored in a few reliable sources – see Steampunk Magazine, especially A History of Misapplied Technology in issue #2, and The Users Guide To Steampunk in issue #5. Also consult the vast reserve on STEAMPUNKOPEDIA, – and so I shall spend the remainder of this article focusing on the creative spirit running deep within the brass veins of this expanding subculture.

In early 2007 the Catastrophone Orchestra, collaborating with the NYC Arts Collective, wrote in their manifesto for the Steampunk subculture, What then, is Steampunk?, “Authentic Steampunk is not an artistic movement, but an aesthetic technological movement” (SPM #1, 5). This denial of artistry appears curious, as it has since become apparent that the creative spirit is what fuels the aesthetic of Steampunk; the two words artistic and aesthetic are inextricably linked in a duel of fabrication and the repurposing of beauty. Today one can find Steampunk artists, musicians, illustrators, jewelers, inventors, and fashion designers to name a few, and the common link in their creative expression is a love of an antiquated technological aesthetic; a time when “fashion and function [were] mutually dependent” (4).

Steampunk is a physical, hands-on subculture. It takes hard work and a lot of dirt to create the livable, not-so-historical Victorian reality that is at the cornerstone of this lifestyle. As Johnny H. Payphone writes in the letters section of SMP #4, “To me, living a steampunk self-reliant life of minimal technology is about preparation for those possibilities,” [such as the “temporary social collapse” that followed in the wake of hurricane Katrina]. In this way a Steamy existence appears to be preparing the individual for an impending breakdown of modern society, minus all of its electronic and fossil fuel creature comforts. Possibly, in our modern culture where inner city children believe beef comes from McDonalds and not cows, and many Americans have no idea how to grow vegetables, start a fire using kindling, or live without the power grid in any way, becoming a Steampunk is a way of reclaiming knowledge about basic human existence. A way of teaching oneself how to make the things one needs to survive unassisted. If you need further proof of this, just read A Steampunk’s Guide To The Apocalypse.

An integral part of Steampunk is, according to Science Fiction author and cultural progenitor Bruce Sterling, the Punk ethic, and specifically its DIY ideology. SPM echoes this when they write that one aim of the magazine is to put the Punk back into Steampunk. According to Sterling, the subculture includes a determination to “take the means of production away from big, mind-deadening companies who want to package and sell shrink-wrapped cultural products” (SPM #5, 32). Sterling continues on, in The User’s Guide To Steampunk, to illuminate the root of this subculture’s disillusionment with, and disenfranchisement from, The Establishment. His thought-provoking words are worth quoting at some length:

Here Sterling is expounding upon current subcultural expressions of escapism. For Steampunkers, physical creative manifestations have become a way to evade the day-to-day virtual, digital environment that pervades our American culture today. Disenchantment with modern society is revealing itself through the fantasy world of DIY invention and the wonderment of garbing oneself for fantastical adventures yet to come. In the way that Goths escape modern societal expectations by embracing hedonistic excess, often played out in nightclub culture, for example, Steampunkers are dialing down their digital existence in favor of embracing physical materialization as a route to creative satisfaction.

Sterling also believes that Steampunk is “an international design and technology effort,” and “a counterculture arts and crafts movement in a 21st century guise” (SPM #5, 33). As SPM so beautifully states in their motto, “Love the machine, hate the factory.”

Within the American Steampunk community there are two standout creators, Jake Von Slatt (ne Sean Slattery) and Richard ‘Doc’ Nagy, aka Datamancer. Their creative technical output has both dazzled the mainstream media and inspired fledgling subcultural participants to become creative forces in their own right. Von Slatt’s most talked-about Steampunk modification merged an IBM keyboard with an old-fashioned typewriter. It has style, grace, and functionality – all hallmarks of the Steamy aesthetic and lifestyle. Doc designed a Steampunk laptop that is both utilitarian and a work of art. It has small brass claw feet and a clockwork key that starts it up. Doc also modifies “computational-engine” computer cases, and has recently begun selling custom keyboards via his website.

Today’s industrial designs are intended to be unadorned and disposable, two things quite antithetical to the Steampunk ethos. The transformation of unemotional computer technology into Victorian objects of beauty is a remarkably interesting way to comment on the state of modern society. As Steve Archer of the band Ego Likeness states, “[Steampunk is] about taking things that already exist and manipulating them in such a way that that manipulation becomes art. Trying to look at technology in less obvious ways” (SPM #4, 28). Merging the needs of the computer age with artistic functionality and the Victorian household objet d’art has created a way for stark modernity to merge with romantic naturalism – thus creating a new pastiche aesthetic with limitless possibility.

When it comes to Steampunk clothing and accessories, one’s imagination is only limited by time and money. Many subcultural participants are shopping at thrift and vintage stores for items that they are then modifying to fit their own particular aesthetic. What results is a variety of unique personas. Here are some that have appeared in recent years: the female aviator or explorer, the dark Victorian dandy (or diva) in dignified drapery, the mad scientist with a wild mane and goggles to match, and the tinkerer/inventor always ready with a tool or two strapped to a leather utility belt. Some participants are even using costuming as a way to become their favorite movie or video-game character. These are just a few of the reasons why Steampunk is appealing to many different types of people, from geeks to Goths and Cosplayers to fabricators. And with visually exciting movies like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Sleepy Hollow, and City of Lost Children, who wouldn’t want to recreate a bit of the macabre, industrial fantasy.

The most easily accessible entry into this subculture’s style is the myriad of jewelry available on Etsy. Artists like Libby Bulloff, of Exoskeleton Cabaret, create affordable, wearable pieces from beautiful mechanical detritus. Bulloff’s vacuum tube necklaces are both one of a kind, and intricate works of art. Try Tempus Fugit for pocket watches of all kinds, including ones that glow in the dark. EdmDesigns, calling itself the Tiffany’s of Steampunk Jewelry, sells an array of items, from cufflinks to goggles all decked out in clockwork cogs and gears. Even mainstream manufacturers are getting into the gears game with companies such as Treasure Cast Inc., that specializes in pewter casting, which has created a Steampunk line of buttons modeled after the inside of a watch.

If clothing is what you’re in the market for, Alison at Velvet Mechanism makes corsets from vintage military spats as well as a faux leather under-bust chest harness with chains, keys, and gears hanging down from it. The activist-minded Clockwork Couture is comprised of a group of designers selling everything from a newsprint fabric corset to a t-shirt with an adorable drawing of a penny-farthing on it. Historical re-enactment and western-wear experts the Gentlemen’s Emporium now have a Steampunk Emporium, which is fast becoming the place for men to find wardrobe basics such as linen dusters, dress pants, and shirts. Here you can buy a whole persona, or just a single clothing item. Morbid Outlook favorite, Retroscope Fashions sells Victorian-inspired clothing of exceptional quality that can be utilized in any Steampunk wardrobe. Newly arrived items for women include the impossibly good-looking double-breasted Steampunk blouse, as well as bloomers and breeches with adorable ruffled hems.

In conclusion, the most exciting thing about Steampunk, as it exists today, is the boundless possibility. There is a vague premise of Victorian scientific romanticism, and nothing more to restrict your wildest imagination. The look, aesthetic, clothing, and lifestyle are all waiting for creative people to enshroud themselves in their own personal fantasies of a past that never existed. The Steampunk futurepast is so bright you’d better wear brass goggles.