For Those of You Afraid of Going Public...

[D.Oakes]

The day I left Pennsylvania a little kid yelled at my one friend and I, "Nice outfit!  Not!"  Now we were both in steampunk garb.  I thought very quickly and yelled back, "Oh I'm so cool I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt like everyone else!  Even grandma and grandpa do it!"  He shut up reall fast. 

Now here I am in New Orleans...tourists constantly ask me for directions and drunks think I am Johnny Depp.  I said I was from Pennsylvania and somebody asked if I was Amish, because "aren't they all amish?" 

[barb dwyer]

LOL!

*pause*

Aren't they?

[D.Oakes]

LOL!

*pause*

Aren't they?

Tsk tsk.  Least they said "Aw-mish" and not "Aim-ish."

[Dr Fidelius]

LOL!

*pause*

Aren't they?

Tsk tsk.  Least they said "Aw-mish" and not "Aim-ish."

That is an absurd oversimplification.  There are also a great number of Mennonites in Pennsylvania.  (And my daughter, in Doylestown, and my bull-headed Ukrainian cousins around Moosic and Wilkes-Barre.)

[D.Oakes]

LOL!

*pause*

Aren't they?

Tsk tsk.  Least they said "Aw-mish" and not "Aim-ish."

That is an absurd oversimplification.  There are also a great number of Mennonites in Pennsylvania.  (And my daughter, in Doylestown, and my bull-headed Ukrainian cousins around Moosic and Wilkes-Barre.)

And there are an awful lot of Catholics (like me) and Lutherans and other mainline Protestants, and Jews and Muslims, etc. 

[rovingjack]

Wait, you mean the rest of you arn't Amish too? Uhm 

[D.Oakes]

Wait, you mean the rest of you arn't Amish too? Uhm 

Would Amish be steampunks before there were steampunks?     (Actually to a certain extent I could say that with some seriousness, having been around Amish through working for an auction or my mom's job as an EMT in Lancaster, there have been many times where they "modded" 20th and 21st century things for their own "time."  We are talking LED flashlights...)

To save this topic:  When I was down in New Orleans, the one night I went out on Bourbon Street in the full tail coat and top hat, etc.  After consuming a fair amount of tourist beverages, I decided to go walking up and down Bourbon Street, I was in the mood to show off.  I became a bit of a tourist attraction and then I angered a strip club promoter.  Now in the 2 years since I had last been there it seems like more strip clubs have been added.  I am not a fan of strip clubs, I like Burlesque, but I find strip clubs to be disgusting.  (my own personal opinion, and if I dated a stripper or a woman who wished to be one, I'd be uncomfortable, but if that was really her dream, I'd gladly accept it)  Well I approached the promoter who was wearing a really tacky suit and proceeded to shake his hand and say, "You need to learn how to dress."  Then I approached a stripper and gave her a $20 bill and said, "Bella, just in case his poor salesmanship scares away customers."  Then I walked away. 

[JennyWren]

Was walking back to my friends house in London from a show I passed a group of lads almost indetically dressed
When a lad, shouted out
"Freak or unique"

I thought this was actually quite a good line I replyed

"Clone or alone"

The silence was deafening

[captainrevenge]

I go steampunk in public. Alone. No fear.

[Nikola Tesla]

rovingjack's outfit on p.1 looks like how I used to dress in high school, because I had noooo fashion sense...

(Technically still don't, but now there are all these simple rules for office or practicality or whatever so it doesn't matter).

I have a slightly different reason I don't wear my steamy stuff in public too often, and that is a reluctance to wear my "good" clothes outside where I will sweat in them.  (I don't have a properly steamy winter coat at present, so steaming in public in the winter seems a waste.  I do have a vaguely wizard/old-style black wool cape).  I tried wearing an old cotton tee shirt underneath to absorb the sweat, then nearly passed out on one of our 100F days.  Come fall I may get a chance.

My solution is generally to go "half-steam":  nice waistcoat with pocket watch, shirt with steamy buttons, an appropriate hat, bland go-with-anything trousers, and whatever type of decent footwear I can get my hands on.  My feet are an odd size so the last can be tricky.  When the weather is really forbidding, though, even that is inadvisable.  Boring jeans and tee then with all the steam restricted to inside my head.

As to the Amish, aren't they rather more clock-punk? What with the non-electric and all.

[D.Oakes]

As to the Amish, aren't they rather more clock-punk? What with the non-electric and all.

That is what I thought until the 70 year old Amish guy pulled out an LED flashlight...and yes...he was hardcore Lancaster County Amish...

[The Abiliegh]

rovingjack's outfit on p.1 looks like how I used to dress in high school, because I had noooo fashion sense...

(Technically still don't, but now there are all these simple rules for office or practicality or whatever so it doesn't matter).

I have a slightly different reason I don't wear my steamy stuff in public too often, and that is a reluctance to wear my "good" clothes outside where I will sweat in them.  (I don't have a properly steamy winter coat at present, so steaming in public in the winter seems a waste.  I do have a vaguely wizard/old-style black wool cape).  I tried wearing an old cotton tee shirt underneath to absorb the sweat, then nearly passed out on one of our 100F days.  Come fall I may get a chance.

My solution is generally to go "half-steam":  nice waistcoat with pocket watch, shirt with steamy buttons, an appropriate hat, bland go-with-anything trousers, and whatever type of decent footwear I can get my hands on.  My feet are an odd size so the last can be tricky.  When the weather is really forbidding, though, even that is inadvisable.  Boring jeans and tee then with all the steam restricted to inside my head.

As to the Amish, aren't they rather more clock-punk? What with the non-electric and all.

You must be somewhere down south with the rest of us baking folk. We've had a steady 108 all week here in Austin, TX. My solution is to go a lot more diesel in the summer. It allows for more summer-weight clothes. Also, don't feel like you're restricted to a waistcoat. The weird west style is a nother great one for summer

[VincentSM]

Actually I call myself something of an absurdist.

Hi Jack,
be absurd and proud of it ! Big thumbs up
Best Wishes
Ivan Norton Steamwinch

[Nikola Tesla]

You must be somewhere down south with the rest of us baking folk. We've had a steady 108 all week here in Austin, TX. My solution is to go a lot more diesel in the summer. It allows for more summer-weight clothes. Also, don't feel like you're restricted to a waistcoat. The weird west style is a nother great one for summer

Not quite that far south; suburban Maryland.  I'm one of those batty folk who can sleep on public transportation around D.C. (Any confused readers: see the earthquake thread in Metaphysical.)  When I moved here from Minnesota a lot of people thought "weird west" meant specifically me.  But that was before steampunk became a thing, and all I really had to be was weird and from further west than the speaker.  Funny you mention it, though, because that's a style I could probably put together.

108F?  As in daytime temps for a week?  I'm not sure my health could take that.  Seriously.  I passed out around here at 104.  (Admittedly, they'd told us that day was going to be 95, so I was caught unprepared).  I have to respect anyone who not only tolerates that heat, especially if they have to use public transportation (it's a lot easier when you can dart from air conditioned house to air conditioned car to air conditioned office or air conditioned mall...the only challenge being while the car cools off), and especially if they dress steampunk, dieselpunk, neo-Vic, Goth, or for that matter just nice for the office or with any fashion sense other than Let's Survive The Heat.  Props.

There are other reasons I couldn't live in Texas (though I hear Austin is something of an exception), but to delve into those might be dangerously close to violating one of the forum's well-advised rules.

[The Abiliegh]

Austin is a very different creature than the rest of Texas. The Blueberry in the Cherry Pie, they call it. And it's awesome. I've lived in both California and New York, so I know your hesitations

Yup. 108 daytime, and that's not including heat index (think the opposite "feels like" temp of wind chill). And while I don't have to bus it around anymore, the vehicle I'm driving now (while I search for a new vehicle, as mine bit the dust just yesterday) doesn't have A/C. I drive a bit quickly, but it's not quite the same. And I can admit that I do not suffer the heat gracefully. But I still dress up. And complain. And yell at Texas. Becasue it's hot.

[Nikola Tesla]

Oh yeah.  The heat index.  Since it's much affected by humidity, in warm moist climates like the southern U.S. it can be downright terrifying.  I usually try not to look at it unless I have to.  Partly it's because I moved here from a place where the winter wind-chills often carried the warning "exposed skin freezes in 30 seconds"...a rather different problem.  Much drier climate too.  I doubt I'll ever quite get used to this one.

By all means, yell at the heat if you have to...being "graceful" is overrated when it's conflated with being quiet. 

[The Abiliegh]

... being "graceful" is overrated when it's conflated with being quiet. 

A man anfter my own heart ::dramatic swoon::

[besty]

I guess I never really cared what people thought. I used to get beaten up for "being a goff" and I didn't care, you can't beat the freak out of me.....

   Such a brilliant quote. you can't beat the freak out of me..... I shall use that.

[CorneliaCarton]

It's difficult to be steamy in Scotland. Far too cold most of the time, and where I live has its own weather system.

[Steampunk Away]

Then I approached a stripper and gave her a $20 bill and said, "Bella, just in case his poor salesmanship scares away customers."  Then I walked away. 

1) I read this in a Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depo voice because of your previous comment.
2) Around where I live, even wearing a nice hat sets off people's alarms, or leather sometimes.

[MWBailey]

I habitually wear my vests and flatcap with goggles as sunshades all over the place around Houston. and with my handlebar/longtailed moustache (depending on the humidity, and availability of the relevant wax), I reckon I look pretty steampunk. I get the occasional double take, and people tailgating me or sticking alongside in traffic to stare, maybe a few snide or admiring cracks now and then, but by and large it's apparently no big deal. Not that I'd care in any case.

[Susannah]

I am just flicking through this thread and I am noticing there are not many British replies on here - just a couple. I am wondering if it's the countries where we live which influence easy acceptance or not..... I haven't been into steampunk long but I have been into hats and will always wear one. Actually I feel quite undressed without one, my friends did initially comment on the hat dress but It soon just became normal. And my clothes sense is slowly shifting - here I was just known for something slightly unusual or very colourful.
However the area I would struggle with is steampunk clothes in a boardroom !! When everyone is in suits. Ok in london I would get away with a bowler and perga

[IGetPwnedOften]

In a suit you say...?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

To be fair, if you're in the City, you might be looking more for a SteamChap or Chap style. There was a fellow I used to know when I worked in the City years ago, one of the finest (and most ethical) investment bankers I have ever met, and every day he looked like he had time travelled from the 1930's and looked absolutely splendid.

If people make snide comments, simply tip your hat and wish them a good morning. It is they who will be left feeling cheesy.

Finally, if you're interested in Chap, then this is a good place to start...

'Just Like A Chap' by Mr.B the Gentleman Rhymer

[Lucius Baxter]

I often attempt to go out in semi steam clothes. (This of course, raises the question of "what denotes steampunk attire?") what I would call steam is what I tend to wear! Yes, in the summer it tends towards the diesel side of things, but for the most part, I would call it a Peaky Blinder/Sherlock Holmes/someone from downton abbey look. Today it was black trilby, grey tweed jacket, grey waistcoat, black (vintage moleskin) trousers, black doc martens and grey trenchcoat. I went to Birmingham to buy models from Ian Allen and still got called inspector gadget. I'm so tired of that....
but nonetheless, I would wear goggles in public if I knew I wouldn't get mugged.
(I would carry a truncheon if it wasn't illegal, it would be awesome!)

[Never mind the Cogs]

Just to say when I have been in public wearing steampunk clothing, either with a group or travelling to or from an event the things that are always asked are questions.... this is a good thing, it give us the opportunity to sell our interest to others. You do not need the whole ensomble either, pocket watch or pocket compass and traditional looking umberella sparks many conversations.