You can find all of these information on my blog alternativeego.althemy.com but I would like to spark a further discussion about steampunk fashion and it's origins with our lovely forum crew

Steampunk fashion is an important part of the steampunk movement. Mixture of the Victorian era's utopian view on science in the time of industrialization of Europe and post-apocalyptic vision of the future.

During the 80s and 90s, steampunk fashion and movement grew shoulder to shoulder with dark, goth and punk fashion movements but was largely ignored by the the rest of alternative scene and thrived in the geeky and reenactment communities.

Cyberpunk and Dieselpunk fashion are variations on the subject of steampunk, but gained much more popularity, even mass popularity in the 80's and 90's thanks to the movie industry.

Initially, the clothes, accessories, props and other items were mostly handmade or customized existing items, but as the steampunk movement grew in the past two decades, entrepreneurs and small companies started to produce steampunk clothing and items, sometimes even furniture on a larger scale.

At the first official steampunk convention, "SalonCon 2006" steampunk enthusiasts and pioneers dressed up in their steampunk Sunday best. Paying attention to every detail, not just on clothing, but using specific hair-styling, jewelry, accessory, make-up and props. Everything from manners to iPhones got steampunked!

Since the steampunk as a literature genre emerged it's aesthetics and ideas remained constant. New ideas brought only subtle change as the subculture grew in popularity, inspiring even high fashion.



Photo sources
rebelsmarket.com
Steampunk fashion by Kato
2009 Victorias Secret Fashion Show
thedarkvictorian.blogspot.com
www.dieselpunks.org
www.furnishburnish.com

Once again, great text but I have an issue with that WWII style photo as dieselpunk ...
How is that Mad Max style warrior?
Or maybe you have some info that I don't have?

As a genre, dieselpunk is similar to its more known mother-genre: Steampunk. It combines the aesthetics, mindset and the diesel-based technology of the interwar period all the way to the 1950s with retro-futuristic styles, technology and postmodern feel.

Nice little hommage. Dont have time to inspect all related links but will do as soon possible.
Dieselheads are almost extinct, I fear so. In relative term, put to third perspective.

LadySelene wrote:
I wanted to say something about this as well. I think it was mentioned somewhere on this forum that Dieselpunk is a post-apocalyptic style resembling Mad Max where fuel is the most valuable resource but that is simply not true. The various "punk" settings are characterized by technology ceasing to evolve the way it did in our world and instead stopping at a certain point and advancing that particular technological level to an insane extent. So Steampunk settings don't invent the combustion engine as the next step and instead start super-juicing the steam engine and expanding steam powered technologies. Similarly, Dieselpunk stops advancing after the WWII era diesel powered technologies and instead expands on that technological level (good examples of Dieselpunk are the Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow movie, the Rocketeer comics, the Wolfenstein games, even the WWII era parts of the Captain America movies). The thing that comes after Dieselpunk but before Cyberpunk would be Atompunk. Atompunk is set right before the digital revolution but after the world war periods (so mid 40's to mid 60's) and mainly revolves around atomic energy. So, like in the two I mentioned before, technology stops but doesn't stagnate and instead of transitioning to the computer age of the late 20th century expands upon nuclear technology, usually to science fiction levels. The hands down best example of Atompunk are the Fallout games.

Thank you good sir. This is the most coherent definition of Steampunk and the various other "punk" sub-genres I have seen so far. When I look at them as settings where a certain technological level has been expanded instead of ascending to the next tech level, most of the various other "punk" genres that I considered bullshit actually make sense. Even stuff like Stonepunk and Clockpunk.
On the other hand, there are still baffling sub-genres like Dreampunk or Mythpunk that just don't make any sense to me. At least in the sense of how they relate to Cyberpunk, Steampunk and other technology centered genres.

Not bad. Very precise. Maybe too well.

I could only add one rather funny video, that can help a bit with homorous message.
Steampunk is much more than trends or other newbies comprehend

This is genius!
It so completely encapsulates my thoughts on the subject... and in song form no less
I love steampunk, not to sound too hipstery but I liked it before it was cool, and while I usually love it when a thing I like (a game, a style, a band etc.) becomes more popular, because that means there will be more of it, what this song talks about is the other edge of that double edged sword we call popularity. When something becomes overly popular or mainstream it can get wider reach and coverage but it also opens up the door to gross misunderstanding, misinterpretation and general misuse of the term/subject in question.

Hahaha!
It really is funny and well done and, if I'm being honest, I do kind of agree but I'd like to point out that there is a fine line between being righteously indignant about a bunch of posers and newfangled fans misusing a term or style and being a nitpicking douchebag that is just bitter that his niche interest is not as exclusive anymore. I'm not calling anyone here one or the other, I'm just saying that it's easy to go from one type of person to the other without even noticing. It's like that with everything, not just steampunk.

I concur my chaps...

In video (which you all love, and so do I) there is fine line indeed which reaches its pinnacle on 1:35.
Many people dont grasp that moment where they mix or even force the future into subtle steampunk fabric.
What is left afterwards is merely a byproduct, with cogs ofc ahahaha