Hats to Spats

Or, Dress Accessories as a strategy toward authenticity

Sheila and Keith at the Colorado Railroad Museum

From the tip top of your hat to the soles of your feet, dress accessories are the icing on the cake, the dressing on your salad - the things that complete the “dish”. Dress accessories also communicate a lot about who you intend to be that day; are you a mad scientist, a femme fatale, or an aristocratic patron? They contribute to an authentic impression of that archetype, and distinguish the Steampunk from the person who donned a costume for the con.

In the Steampunk community, much of our material culture is hand made or thrifted. Thus so with the dress accessories. We encourage our illustrious members to eschew the commercial market for dress and dress accessories, depending on themselves or artisinal makers and anti-consumerist measures to acquire a quality Steampunk kit.

For your consideration, here are some posibilities for dress accesories for the well-turned-out Steampunk. Naturally, we start at the top.

• Hats and headwear - hair pins, barettes, and fascinators; hat brooches, rosettes, belts, ribbons, and corsets; hat pins, hair sticks

• Eyewear - glasses, goggles, opera glasses, cinder goggles, clip-on loupes, flip up lenses

• Jewelry - necklaces & pendants, earrings, tie tacks, stick pins, rings, bracelets, medal ribbons, brooches, tie bars, collar pins; chatelaines, skirt lifters

• Neckwear - cravats/ascots, ties & bow ties, dickies, scarves

• Timepieces - pocket watches, wrist watches, watch pendants

• Pauldrons (if you’re the armour sort)

• Suspenders (because Victorian-era pants weren’t held up by belts)

• Wings - fairies, aeronauts

• Gloves - glovettes, cuffs; vambraces and gauntlets for the armour sorts; fingerless apocolyptic gloves, work gloves, lace and formal gloves

• Things to be carried - reticules, cases, walking sticks, parasols, fans

• Belts - utility belts, sashes, waists, bandoliers, harnesses, Swiss waists or dip belts

• Things that depend from the belt - pouches, tea cup and weapons holsters, fans, pouches or hip bags, and geegaws like key rings, pocket watches, flasks, potion bottles…

• Thigh holster - for bags, vials, or weapons

• Cuisses, poleyns, and greaves (again for the armour sorts)

• Stockings and gaiters

• Footwear - boots, shoes, spatterdashes

Steampunk Green Fairy

Likely taken at Emerald City Steampunk Con in Wichita.

How does one source all this stuff?

Well, mostly it’s made by the wearer or thrifted and modified. We’re fond of garage sale-ing. We have many artisans in the community and much can be acquired from them, through cash or barter. If you’re looking for a parasol holster or actual Victorian hair pins (for instance), Etsy is a great source.

But we’d like to make a couple of important points from the top to the bottom:

• Yes, you need to wear a hat or hair dressing, whether dressing in feminine or masculine attire. Long flowing locks were acceptible only during a few years of the Victorian era, in one particular subculture. Plan to spend on your hats - top hats made of wool will wear best, and won’t be as hot as a “costume” hat. Boaters which are made of braided plastic are readily available - and cheap - but splurge on something that is real straw. And you want to make sure that you have the right size to wear, and that it is secure; there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re coming apart all day long.

• Buy good shoes. Yes, I have a pair of paddock boots that I got (new!) from the thrift store, and Mark’s oxblood red Oxfords were likewise acquired. But in general, thrifted shoes will have issues. Parsimonious purchasing of other dress accessories can leave room in your budget for a pair of shoes which are authentic, which will last, and most importantly, won’t hurt your feet.