Steampunk is the New Goth; Brown is the New Black

Seven days after surgery, I headed down to Milwaukee last night for a steampunk ball.  I haven't previously been big into the scene, but I can definitely see myself really getting involved.

Steampunk, fashionwise, just might be the new goth.  I was a goth back when being goth was an actual alternative movement of individuality, rather than something you bought at Hot Topic to rebel like everyone else.

Really, there's a fair amount of goth attire that can be refitted for steampunk, particularly if you were one of those antique-minded goths.  Corsets: still in.  Shiny accoutrements: still in, in the form of zippers, buttons, chains, and various notions such as compasses, pocketwatches and keys.  Leather?  Absolutely.  Colorwise, steampunk emphasizes browns over blacks, but there's plenty of black gear that's still completely appropriate. 

Because this was a ball, we dressed in high class steampunk, but there's a lot of low-class steampunk too: aviator gear, complicated tool belts, gadgets, and the ever-present goggles.  You can claim your place among steampunk with little more than a pair of goggles, really.  The goggles don't even have to be functional.  Here they are worn on the hats of men who already have glasses on their faces. 

Or, as I learned, as a really quick costume, a wrench might even replace a set of goggles.  At least when you're bold enough to wear it as a tie, as the gentleman in front did, as his addition to our group was a last minute thing.