How to do Steampunk

Voodoo Street Steampunk Hats

Some of you may have noticed (and at least one of you bought one) some elaborate new additions to our ranged during the summer months – our handmade Steampunk hats.  We have long been voyeurs of this scene and incorporated the top hat (the lifeblood of any steampunk outfit) into our logo.  We were also inspired by our visit to Goth  HQ, Whitby and more recently, the TV series Taboo.

After a couple of weekends off and mourning the end of the summer festival season, we decided we needed another road trip adventure, preferably one to top up our levels of human contact (working from home Monday to Friday can occasionally send you hurtling towards the edges of sanity).  With leaves falling and Halloween - our favourite time of the year - just around the corner, Chepstow Steampunk Winter Festival presented itself and seemed like the perfect option.  

Monmouthshire is a stunning area and Chepstow, with its Norman Castle and proximity to the Forest of Dean, seemed like a great place to make our first foray into the world of steampunk.  We pitched and awaited the decision of the organisers.  We were anticipating that the event would be over-subscribed and when decision day came and went, assumed that we had not been successful.  So we were over the moon to receive an email from Alice the following day, blaming a faulty laptop for the delay in informing us that we had been confirmed as a Saturday trader. 

Cut to one day later and I am running around like a headless chicken, making lists (not sure how effective they are, but lists is what I do!)  We have just over a month to make some hats to replenish our stock, plan our steampunk set-up and, more importantly, pull together some killer outfits that will turn Gaz into Tom Hardy... 

Tom Hardy, as Delaney in Taboo

...and me into Vanessa Helsing!

Kate Beckinsale, as Vanessa in Van Helsing

For those not on board with steampunk, it’s a creative movement with a backdrop of either Victorian England or America’s Wild West, where modern technologies (think steam power, rather than Apple technology) are re-imagined as elaborate works of art, fashion and mechanics.  

Courtesy of Pinterest, a quick Steampunk outfit this guy cobbled together!

Devotees really go to town on their outfits and we need to be on it – no loose cogs, shapeless jackets or ill-fitting corsets for us.  So, I’m currently trawling the internet for inspiration.  Here’s what I have learned so far.

Blokes:

It's all in the detail

Key outfit elements include:-

1. A fitted jacket or long coat.
2. Victorian shirt.
3. Waistcoat.
4. Top Hat.
5. Industrial boots.

Women:

Key outfit elements include:-

1. Top Hat.
2. Victorian blouse.
3. Corset.
4. Skirt with bustle.
5. Fitted jacket.
6. Granny boots.

Courtesy of Pinterest

Sounds relatively simple doesn’t it?  Until you dig a little deeper and start Googling images of steampunk outfits.  My head started spinning when I came across reference to “current trends in steampunk.”  What if Gaz’s goggles are all wrong?  Are DMs acceptable? 

One swift absinthe later and I had put things into perspective.  The whole event is celebratory.  Fun.  This won’t be Devil Wears Prada, it will be Voodoo Street Victoriana!  So whether we go traditional with rich coloured velvets, brocade and lace embellishments or embrace the new off-white or go cirque de steampunk, remains to be seen.  

Now, I’m thinking late November might be pushing it to camp, particularly if we’re going for a look less “festival”, more groomed and polished. So I need to get booking some digs for the night.  The B&Bs are all country dwellings with names like “Foxes Reach” and “Church Farm Cottage” and the 90% of the self catering cottages appear to be converted cider barns.  Cider...now you’re talking.

The result of a "Best Cider in Chepstow" Google search

Top Hat and Tales

It’s Halloween and despite the unseasonably mild and sunny scene that I’ve just witnessed, All Hallow’s Eve cannot pass without a Voodoo Street blog. 

Halloween 2016

It’s our favourite time of year but not particularly for the commercial trick or treat traditions inherited from our American cousins. 

Our weekend Halloween celebrations had a uniquely British flavour; a night time steam train journey into the darkness with moonlit fields as the vista…

There's something out there!!  View from the Severn Valley Steam Train of Arley Station

Pagan decorations…

Pumpkins and my familiar

...and feasting on a menu courtesy of the autumn harvest (think pumpkin soup and apple crumble).  Of course no Halloween would be complete without an open fire (never mind that it’s 17 degrees outside – lose some layers!) and a ghost story.  So, today seems as a good a time as any to share the story behind our logo – specifically the top hat.

Special Edition Sugar Skull version of our Logo Sticker online now

 In the 1950s my long departed grandfather was given an aged leather bound bible and a top hat by an acquaintance.  The items had originally been discovered in an old hearse the acquaintance – a wheeler-dealer – had acquired.  As a father of six (five of them boys), he was always looking for ways to keep his family entertained.

It seems impossible to believe, but long before the days of console games and iphones, kids could find entertainment in a dressing up prop and the top hat fitted the bill.

The hat was passed around but pretty soon was relegated to the back of a dusty cupboard.

The family lived in a terraced house in Wordsley, which was then a village bordered by fields.  

Photo of Wordsley, credit:  The Francis Frith Collection

1950s Wordsley.  Photo credit The Francis Frith Collection

Pretty soon after the top hat arrived, unexplained happenings occurred.  The passage of time and fading memories have resulted in only a few clear events now being recounted, but I have grown up with these stories and no matter which relative you speak to, the stories are consistent.

One spring day the family were outside in the back garden.  No one was inside the house.  One of the upstairs bedroom windows was open.  The weather conditions were calm.  Taking a break and sitting on a bench, something caught my grandmother’s eye.  A glass perfume bottle rose up, framed in mid air by the window and then appeared to be tossed outside, as though thrown by some invisible hand.  The ledge was a good few inches below the window.

On another occasion, on a clear moonlit night, one of my boys heard someone knocking on the back door.  His bedroom window had a clear view of back door entrance, but as no one was outside, he lay down again, only to hear footsteps walking away.  Again, peering out of the window, there was no one to be seen.

In the ensuing weeks, there were other incidents, unexplained, but unremarkable; bumps in the night, things going missing.  That is until one particular evening.  It was a Saturday night and the family were asleep.  Around 4 am, the family dog, a very clever Poodle called Mitzi, began to howl.  There was then a deafening crash, which raised the roof, the family and the hairs on the back of their necks.  Running down stairs, a scene of devastation greeted the family. 

Credit:  Occultopedia

The damage has been described as the result of someone…or something…sweeping their hand purposefully in one direction across the wall and the fireplace below.  All of the ornaments and pictures on the wall above the fireplace were smashed or swiped to the corner of the room.  The dog was distressed, but there was no sign of an intruder.  My Mom still vividly remembers the scene when she visited her then boyfriend (my Dad) early the next morning and recalls how shaken everyone was.

In the clear up operation, the hat was discovered in a cupboard and thrown out with other broken or unwanted items…not out of superstition, just as part of a general sort out, but, nevertheless, there ended the supernatural activity.  

My Dad is a complete sceptic and this has been a bone of contention between us over the years, as his logic didn’t always fit with my youthful enthusiasm for all things unexplained.  However, he stands by this story to this day.

So when finalising our Voodoo Street logo, aside from the Voodoo connotations associated with a top hat, this story was instrumental in our logo’s creative influences. 

Happy Halloween and sleep well!