Victoriana

The Victorian era is one of my favourite periods in history, being a fascinating mix of cultural repression, refinement, and subtle decadence. I can trace my love for it right back to my childhood, when I went on the school trip to St Fagans. St Fagans is a history-come-to-life sort of place, and is a fantastic place to go for the day. It was one of those school trips where you dress up. I wore a white pinny and a ruffled hat. We spent a whole day in costume, having Victorian lessons, playing Victorian games, having a very serious picture taken, etc. (I seemed to confuse being serious with being an aggressive owl). Wonderful stuff. I heartily recommend going, whatever your interest in history.

These pieces have been chosen in part for their authenticity, and in part for their innovation. You might have noticed that the theme is not "Victorian" but "Victoriana", which I think leaves a certain amount of leeway in terms of design and function. Victorian-inspired, then, instead of Victorian replicas. Victorian Victorian Victorian. Ooh, that word looks odd now.

 ~♥~ VICTORIANA ~♥~ 

         

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Steampunk

Science fiction captivated me from a really young age, and I loved alternate history stories. The Victorian era is ones that I also found very interesting, inspired in part by Jacqueline Wilson's The Lottie Project. (Though steampunk isn't just Victorian.) Still, I had never really thought to put the two together, so imagine my delight when I discovered a whole subculture devoted to re-imagining the past, complete with costumes, etiquette, machines and creativity.

It was only around four years ago that I discovered the steampunk movement, and I adore it. There are a heck of a lot of people who are just in it for the look, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I find the alternative history thing as a whole just infinitely more satisfying. Finding a look you like is great, but I love the fact that this whole thing comes from such a creative place, and you're really missing out if you haven't explored it properly. And there are far too many people snooty about getting the look right (as with many subcultures), which can be very expensive, and just isn't the point.

For those of you who have missed the steampunk thing, there's an informative page about it here ---> EtherEmporium. It makes me a little sad that there are so many people "into steampunk" who don't really know anything about the literature or the history behind it, because it really is fascinating, from a creative point of view. A bit of a bumper blog post today, as I really love this look. ^_^ While cogs and keys are the staples of most steampunk jewellery, I've tried to stick to genuinely hand-crafted steampunk gifts (may also include cogs).

 ~♥~ STEAMPUNK ~♥~

         

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