Tragic news of the death of Weird Al's parents.

January 18, 2013 8:19 PM

Is "Steampunk" the next big fashion trend? Time Magazine reports on the cutting edge fashion of tomorrow.
posted by mediocre (32 comments total)

my dad texted me recently to tell me he just learned about steampunk, that it seemed like "mashups but with clothes" (he got the dangermouse grey album recently), and that he learned about it on a crime of the week show on basic cable. i figured if it wasn't dead already, that there was the death knell.
posted by nadawi at 8:23 PM on January 18 [5 favorites]

And, with a single revolver shot fired into the air, the dashing official commenced the silly/sarcastic comments competition!
posted by sendai sleep master at 8:24 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]

But seriously, folks, I've glued all these gears to all these things and I need this to be big right now, truly I do.
posted by sendai sleep master at 8:29 PM on January 18 [4 favorites]

My prediction: wolf tshirts to be big by 2018.
posted by nathancaswell at 8:34 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]

If you must visit BoingBoing, for the sake of your family clear your browser history. I left it up on the family computer and now my 13 year old daughter is infatuated with steampunk.
posted by 445supermag at 8:36 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

Sounds more like Time Magazine is reporting the news of yesterday.
posted by dunkadunc at 8:36 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

Between Back to the Future Part III and Wild Wild West lies the period that steampunk most evokes: The 1990s.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:37 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]

Dunno, IBM's Social Sentiment Index, Sentiment Analysis and Advanced Analytics, all of which predict the rise of steampunk, are based on things such as indexes, analysis and analytics. That is pretty persuasive right there. I mean, Big Data, right?
posted by Ad hominem at 8:39 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

Is the title of this post a bug, or a tasteless reference?
posted by steinsaltz at 8:42 PM on January 18 [5 favorites]

Is "Steampunk" the next big fashion trend? Time Magazine reports on the cutting edge fashion of tomorrow.

Oh good, it's dead then.
posted by Artw at 8:46 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

Oh my god, I get it! Time Magazine! It's like a time machine, except it's a magazine!
posted by Naberius at 8:49 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: If you must visit BoingBoing, for the sake of your family clear your browser history.
posted by benzenedream at 8:51 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

I'm gearing up for punkpunk fashion. All I need is a few more bottle caps.
posted by Brocktoon at 8:51 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]

We were swinging on the flippety-flop, old bean, and getting bloated, rotting bloated, on some score port. It was then, as I regarded her fetching plats, that I decided being bound-and-hagged wasn't the mark of a proper lamestain after all. Not that a cob nobbler like yourself would understand, right, guv'nor?
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:55 PM on January 18 [7 favorites]

Ah, I see. They scraped message boards.

*sells IBM stock*
posted by oneirodynia at 8:56 PM on January 18

No, you also need safety pins.

The Sun said so in 1978/79. I should be able to find a link to the article, but I cannot, so I will inflict this horror on you. I predict Tweepunk.

(I would be all up for an actual punk revival... but maybe this is the Steampunk revival we had to have? Maybe this is the year Abney Park and The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing get their grammies for best Steampunk albums? Of course not. The Beibs got there first)
posted by Mezentian at 8:58 PM on January 18

Steampunk is bigger than those of us who don't do it realize. I did a post on steampunk knitting projects for my knitting blog, and it's in the top ten list of my most-viewed posts.

I'm not into it myself, though I like a touch of the antiquated in my clothes, but it is a lot of fun to look at. And the best thing about it is that people who are into it have to be creative and to make things themselves because they can't just buy them. I'm not sure I like the idea of steampunk stuff being mass-produced. It would kill the originality and creativity.
posted by orange swan at 9:00 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]

What the hell is up with the post title?
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 9:02 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]

Is the title of this post a bug, or a tasteless reference?

Looks like they died in 2004, so I assume it's a particularly obscure commentary on the timeliness of Time's reporting.
posted by mumkin at 9:02 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]

No, the next big thing is formicapunk.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:07 PM on January 18 [4 favorites]

No, the next big thing is formicapunk.

70's West-of-the-Rockies computer-culture fashion against a backdrop of '70s East-Coast-Cocaine interior design is completely where my head is at right now.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:11 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]

Hopefully this will help kills steampunk. It's okay as a videogame aesthetic but as a subculture it's just silly. Especially in Sydney, where people melt in black clothes and gears glued on everything. It's also lost any 'punk' ideals, with people dressing up like aristocrats (ironically, Micheal Moorcock's novelization of The Great Rock & Roll Swindle has the Sex Pistols attacking London from an airship).

I predict Tom Waits style hobo punk will be the next big thing. Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains are real punks.

The greatest work of steampunk art is Zybourne Clock.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:13 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]

Boo to this man's title.
posted by boo_radley at 9:16 PM on January 18 [6 favorites]

Hobopunk! That would be terrific.
posted by JHarris at 9:19 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]

Umm. Out on the West Coast, they call them Crunchies and/or Gutter Punks, and it's kind of less than terrific.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:23 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]

I love the waistcoats and the long skirts, but I think I'll just take the steam without the punk because the gears look silly.
posted by jb at 9:26 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

But this isn't really about Steampunk, on further examination, but about IBM predicting Steampunk becoming mainstream from their analysis of web traffic.
posted by JHarris at 9:26 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

Nothing is mainstream until you can wear it to work without violating The Dress Code.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:34 PM on January 18

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2198
posted by Iron Rat at 9:35 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

In other words, the clackers at IBM have invented a modus and have programmed their difference engines to make predictions.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:39 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

'Steampunk is the next big thing'... Oh my god, isn't that precious? Do you think they'll work out that Dubstep exists next?
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 9:49 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]

We call it 1993 music here.
posted by Artw at 9:56 PM on January 18