I love steampunk.

 

I love the aesthetic, the movement, the fiction, the ethos.

 

This was the first stop on my cosplay journey. I think it could have looked better, but it could have been a lot worse!

 

My boots were hand-me-downs with beautiful lacing, which I wore with a £1 dress from a charity shop, a handkerchief skirt rustled up by the Mother Extraordinaire, a corset also made by Mum, a beautiful Italian lace vest, and goggles off Etsy (I'm planning to make my own, but time constraints.)

 

I did order a custom Nerf Jolt and holster, but received them too late for the con. I certainly don't sit around in my room firing it and pretending I'm the heroine of my own novel.

 

The con was amazing and I felt really confident. I snapped every steampunker I saw, and was very envious. More cogs are needed. Many. many more. I would quite like to try an explorer character: pith helmet kind of lark. But huge dresses with skirts and petticoats...

 

I find the movement very interesting- it's simultaneously a nostalgia for a past that never really existed, hoping to inspire a better, more inventive future. The scientist in me adores it. Oooh, a steampunk scientist...

 

NEWSFLASH Nov 2013:

I did a professional photoshoot in this cosplay with a different corset. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few images up soon.