Let's combine two of my favourite clothing styles; faerie and steampunk fashion! I love the colours and the creativity that goes into steampunk, the tinkering and thinking up new devices to make with old recycled parts. But how do you incorporate all of this awesomeness into your daily wardrobe or amazing costume? We'll find out today as we explore different elements of the costume. Let's begin shall we?
Dress:
So how would a steampunk faerie dress? Steampunk colours are browns, brasses and golds which are sometimes combined with a turquoise or bright green to add a bit of colour. For a steampunk faerie you could add even more colours and match that to the type of faerie you're trying to portay (or the type of faerie that you secretly are inside ;)) Pinks and purples for flowerfaeries, blues and greens for
oceanfaeries, reds and oranges for firefaeries etc.etc.
Steampunk wear is usually inspired by the victorian dresses, by making them shorter, you already make them more faerie. Make them a bit ragged for a wilder faerie and use lots of layers! Soft and delicate fabrics like sheer organza and lace are great for the steampunk fae. Use them together with rugged leathers and heavy linen for the ultimate steamfaerie look.
Something very faerie
and steampunk is of course the corset. A beautiful corset adds glamour and mystery to any outfit, be it in your daily wear or for your over the top costume.
Jewellery:
Something that always screams steampunk faerie to me are the tiny gears that you find inside watches. And of course we already talked about
winged jewellery in one of our previous Faerie Fashion Feature. Something dainty and delicate, but still with steampunk charm. Luckily for us, nowadays it's not that difficult to get our hands on tiny vials and bottles, which we can fill with our tiny clockwork pieces. But there's more; leather chokers in bright colours, delicate metal vine necklaces with cogs and gears, lots and lots of feathers combined with skulls, leather stamped with delicate symbols, led-lights, moving parts, anything your imagination can conjure up.
Headgear:
There are two things we see most in steampunk headgear; tophats and goggles. So how to faerie-fy those? Well, tiny tophats are very much faeriewear and look totally adorable! You even have tiny tophats in the shape of cups and saucers which just adds to the cuteness and gives it an Alice in Wonderland flair.
The goggles will look much more faerie if you add tinted glasses, perhaps in a purple or pink. Use coloured leathers to make the sides and add brass charms and findings and basically add anything that sparkles!
Of course we also have the fascinators that are both faerie and steampunk. Beautiful feathers and flowers combined with cogs and gears. Perhaps a tiny birdcage veil for your sophisticated steamfaerie? The possibilities are endless!
Misc:
There are some other fun faeriethings that you can add to your steamfaerie wardrobe. How about a hairwreath with cogs, gears, feathers and flowers? Or how about some wire elf ears? Search the web for more steampunk ideas and add your own flavour to them. You'd be amazed how many creative and wonderful people are out there making the most amazing steampunk accessories and clothing. Let them inspire you, or, buy their stuff off the interwebs.
Wings:
Of course we couldn't have a steampunk faerie feature without featuring some awesome wings! There are so many to choose from. Wooden wings with cogs and gears, the classical wire framed wings, felt, foam rubber, metal and everything mixed together.
In choosing your wings there are some things to concider. Does your steamfaerie have wings of her own or do they work mechanically? What type of faerie do you want to show the world? A steam-flowerfaerie will perhaps have more delicate wings like the wirewings, while a faerie from the dark forest might have wings of wood and feathers. Picture a royal faerie with wings of shining brass adorned with jewels and shiny things.
Also think about the size of your wings. Small wings are cuter while larger wings look more regal. Remember, anything you can think up, you can create!
Some final words of advise; if you're trying to portay a smaller faerie, (pixie size like Tinker Bell) try to avoid objects that are small to us humans. Pocketwatches are very steampunk, but for a pixie-sized faerie, it would be huge! Think about the size of your accessories as you make/search for them.
Think outside the box. Steampunkers are inventors, don't be afraid to go over the top with some sort of weird device your faerie persona has invented. Add flashing lights and sparkles to make it even more faerie!
Don't be afraid to ask for advise. You want to make something but you don't know how? Ask! Ask your nephew who knows how to solder stuff, ask the (wo)man who made those amazing faerie wings what type of materials s/he used.
Don't blatently copy stuff you see. There is a line between getting inspired and using someone else's design for yourself. Please don't rightout copy something you see online. People spend a lot of time and effort on thinking up and making these things. If you want something that is the same, ask them to make it for you or simply buy it from their stores.
Happy crafting and join us next time for a short 5 question interview with Faerie Artist
Janna Prosvirina!
Love and Leaves,
Marjolijn Ashara
