Cupcakes and Pipe Fittings
January 24, 2011 7:19 PM   Subscribe

Kambriel Steamcon II Fashion Show - pics from the event
posted by Ardiril (25 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
It would be so easy to snark at this, but, bottom line...looks like these folks are having fun! Good on them...

And, now I want a long coat of "black embossed faux alligator" (or, heck REAL alligator!).
posted by HuronBob at 7:23 PM on January 24, 2011


For those who're prone to go "ugh" at Steampunk, this gallery is pretty much all psuedo-retro in style, without any random unconnected gears, go-nowhere pipes, or decorative pistons.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:40 PM on January 24, 2011


Yeah, thankfully this doesn't come off as steampunk at all to me, but more olde tyme dress up, which is fine and cool.
posted by mathowie at 7:42 PM on January 24, 2011


Kind looks like they all raided Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter's closets.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:44 PM on January 24, 2011 [4 favorites]


I guess it's inevitable that we'd all grow up a little and move on from Ren Faire to something else.
posted by hermitosis at 7:58 PM on January 24, 2011 [2 favorites]


Cherie Priest. So awesome. Here's why.
posted by grabbingsand at 7:59 PM on January 24, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'd like to wear those clothes to paint houses in.
posted by oddman at 8:01 PM on January 24, 2011


Shouldn't at least one of them have a mechanical arm to qualify as steampunk?
posted by Brocktoon at 8:25 PM on January 24, 2011


oddman: Like, on paper, with watercolours, which is the sort of landscape refined ladies paint? Because these are lovely, and knowing Kambriel probably extremely well made. I have exactly one item from her and it was expensive, but it's spectacular and skillfully put together.
posted by Jilder at 8:28 PM on January 24, 2011


Where's the steam?
posted by IjonTichy at 9:30 PM on January 24, 2011


Some gorgoeous pieces, there. A couple of friends of ours were at the Edwardian Ball a few nights ago, and we looked at some of the photos they had taken of people in their finery. Wow.
posted by rtha at 9:39 PM on January 24, 2011


Shouldn't these be Daguerreotypes?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:20 PM on January 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Kambriel does a lot of this sort of work, and things a little more modern, for folks like Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, and Margaret Cho, as seen in her customer gallery.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:32 PM on January 24, 2011


Nice post! Folks can roll their eyes at the steampunk crowd all they want, but I think it's really cool that there's people out there who are keeping these things alive outside of a museum context. These aren't actual 19th-century vintage clothes — they're reproductions and imaginative interpretations of those styles made by what must be (to my admittedly untrained eye) highly skilled tailors/seamstresses. If I needed costumes for a film or TV show set in some sort of weird penny-dreadful universe, I'd hire them in a minute.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:18 AM on January 25, 2011


Gears, check it.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:20 AM on January 25, 2011


Ain't gonna do it without the fez on.
posted by fixedgear at 5:06 AM on January 25, 2011


I find their lack of goggles... refreshing.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:17 AM on January 25, 2011


I also have one of her ensembles and can vouch for the quality close-up. Kambriel has been doing this sort of creative riff on Victorian for a while, I think "steampunk" is just a convenient shorthand description.
posted by JoanArkham at 6:58 AM on January 25, 2011


yeah, I've known Kambriel since she was a young designer living in Salem, MA and vending clothes and accessories at the local Boston goth clubs back in the 90s. Friends and friends of friends would get her to make pieces for them either because they were too tall or oddly proportioned to have good luck at thrift stores or because they thought her clothes were awesome. She's always had a good eye and fine hand.

So, to backup what JoanArkham says, the aesthetic that she's specialized in for the last 15 years is part Edward Gorey, part Tim Burton, part nightclub\masquerade ball and part living on the wintry east coast of North America on the shores of empty beaches on the Atlantic. People called it Goth in the 90s, Steampunk now, Victorian 2.0 (V20) probably sometime in the future.
posted by bl1nk at 7:36 AM on January 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


A few of my friends love her work, and have modeled for her. It's not my style at all, but I think that she makes some beautiful clothing.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:49 AM on January 25, 2011


And those friends? In that fashion show! I heart my friends and their beautiful clothes.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:51 AM on January 25, 2011


Jilder, no I mean to be a house painter with ladders, buckets, drop cloths, et al.

I can't really articulate why, but paining a house in one her outfits just feels right to me.
posted by oddman at 9:29 AM on January 25, 2011


Yeah, the real term for this is classic Victorian Goth, or 'viccygoff' for the drunk bats.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:09 PM on January 25, 2011


Unless I'm very much mistaken, "Jillian" is Jillian Venters, the Lady of the Manners (previously).
posted by MrBadExample at 9:01 PM on January 25, 2011


Yes, yes she is.
posted by Ardiril at 9:45 PM on January 25, 2011


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