Girl Anachronism

I spent the whole weekend looking Victorian!

Hans and I went with friends of ours, the crew of the Independent Airship Nimbus (more on that later), to a Steampunk-themed sci-fi con in St. Louis this weekend. Steampunk is an aesthetic movement and sci-fi subculture stemming from the supposition, "What if steam power, not electricity, were the major force behind the technological advances of the past two centuries?" Anachronism is a major element, juxtaposing futuristic and historical imagery - for example, wood-and-copper robots or Art Nouveau architecture on a space station. Exposed gears and other mechanical elements are a common motif.

The historical period in question is, of course, the Industrial Revolution, which began with the introduction of the steam engine. Victorian England is a frequent source of inspiration for character and re-enactment, but the romance of neo-Victoriana is tempered by grit and science, and the gloom of Goth is replaced with geeky wit and a sense of play. Literary influences range from Mary Shelley to H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Friday night was low-key, as most of us had been awake all week preparing our costumes and room decor before driving across Missouri. We got settled in, missed the opening ceremony (oops), and went to Steak-and-Shake for dinner, an experience of multi-layered anachronism.

Those who didn't fall asleep right after dinner (like I did) had a Nerf war. Our crew's weapons were hardly recognizable as the plastic toys we purchased at Target, but looked more like something out of "Firefly."

I skipped Saturday afternoon's excursion to the Science Museum, to chat with a cross-genre author and catch up with an old friend, and of course, squeeze in a little reading and alone time. Here's a shot, though, of some of the crew against a perfect historical backdrop:
No, I don't know what Buffy is doing to Hans.

I'm hoping someone posts pictures somewhere of Saturday night's dance, and I'm in some of them, because no pictures of my rollerskating doll costume ended up on our camera. Yes, rollerskating. At the River Market Antique Mall in KC, we found a set of the old adjustable skates that slip on the bottom of regular shoes, and I got a pair of red fringe-tongued lace-up boots at the Goodwill in Lawrence. Hans painted the skates copper and riveted them to the soles of the boots. I didn't have time to add little details like gears, but they still looked cool and functioned perfectly for a long time. A couple hours into the dance, though, the rear rivets finally popped out of the rubber heels, probably because I was trying to pogo. Advice for dancing in rollerskates: keep the wheels on the ground. I would like to emphasize, though, that the only time I fell was one of the times Hans dipped me!

The rest of the night can be summed up with the following picture: