More Than Goggles and Gears

Steampunk UK, in all its many forms, is about far more than clothing, costumes, machines, art or events. At its heart, it is about identity. It is about imagination. It is about discovering how you want to present yourself to the world, and sometimes, along the way, discovering parts of yourself that you did not even realise were there.

Steampunk gives us permission to create without asking whether what we are creating fits neatly into somebody else's idea of what art should be. There are very few boundaries. You might sew an extraordinary outfit by hand, build something mechanical from discarded pieces, paint, sculpt, write, perform, dance, make music, create jewellery, restore something old, invent something entirely new, or simply develop a character and step into that character for a day.

And something quite remarkable can happen when you do.

You can become whoever you want to be.

Perhaps that person is louder than you normally are. Perhaps they are braver. More colourful. More elegant. More eccentric. More confident. Perhaps they walk into a room differently. Perhaps they speak to strangers when normally they would remain quiet. Perhaps, for the first time in a very long time, they allow themselves to be noticed.

There is something deeply powerful about being able to put on something you have created and say, in your own way, this is me.

Sometimes the persona begins as make believe, but somewhere along the way you realise that the confidence was never really pretend. It was yours all along.

That is one of the beautiful things about the steampunk community. You can arrive as yourself, become someone entirely different for an afternoon, and somehow leave knowing yourself a little better.

Finding Your People

As you travel further into this extraordinary world, you begin meeting people you might never otherwise have encountered. Artists, makers, inventors, musicians, performers, writers, collectors, photographers, engineers, historians, dreamers and wonderfully eccentric people who refuse to believe that growing older means becoming less imaginative.

You find people who understand why you spent weeks creating a hat.

They understand why a piece of brass you found at a market might become the beginning of an entire costume.

They understand why you stayed awake half the night trying to make something work simply because you could see, in your mind, what it might eventually become.

And perhaps most importantly, they understand the joy of making something simply because it makes your heart happy.

Friendships begin in unexpected places. A conversation about a pair of goggles can become a conversation about life. Someone you met beside a market stall can become someone you look forward to seeing every year. People begin sharing techniques, ideas, materials, stories and encouragement.

Before long, you realise that you have not simply joined a hobby.

You have found a community.

Every Person Has A Story

Every person within that community arrives carrying a story.

Some stories are joyful.

Some are complicated.

Some have been shaped by grief, isolation, learning difficulties, anxiety, depression, disability, loss, loneliness or experiences that other people may never completely understand.

For some, creativity has always been there.

For others, it has been buried for years beneath work, family, responsibility, fear or the simple belief that creative things were something other people did.

Then one day they make something.

Perhaps it is not perfect.

Perhaps it was never supposed to be.

But it belongs to them.

And then somebody sees it and says, I love what you made.

Those few words can matter more than we sometimes realise.

They can encourage somebody to make another thing, and then another. They can start a conversation. They can build confidence. They can remind somebody that their ideas have value and that there is a place where their imagination is not merely tolerated, but celebrated.

Creativity Can Become Something More

That creative spark can become incredibly important.

Making something gives our hands somewhere to go when our minds are restless. It gives us something to concentrate on when the world becomes overwhelming. It allows thoughts and emotions that can be difficult to explain to emerge through fabric, metal, paint, timber, music, leather, photography, performance or whatever medium speaks to us.

Creativity does not magically remove the difficult parts of life, but it can give us another way of carrying them.

Sometimes it becomes an outlet.

Sometimes it becomes a refuge.

Sometimes it becomes a reason to leave the house.

Sometimes it becomes the reason you meet the people who change your life.

And sometimes, without even realising it, the person who once needed encouragement becomes the person encouraging somebody else.

The Gift Of Community

That may be one of the greatest gifts of community.

We discover that our experiences, even the painful ones, can sometimes help another person. Someone who has travelled through a difficult period can stand beside somebody at the beginning of that same road and quietly show them that there is another side.

Not because their lives are perfect.

Not because every difficulty has disappeared.

But simply because they are still here.

Still creating.

Still laughing.

Still dressing magnificently.

Still turning ordinary objects into extraordinary things.

Still making plans.

Still finding reasons to look forward to tomorrow.

There is enormous hope in that.

Sharing Steampunk With The World

Steampunk also gives us a wonderful opportunity to share our fascination with the wider public. When people see an elaborate costume, a beautifully engineered prop, a handcrafted mechanical creation or an extraordinary piece of artwork, they become curious.

They ask questions.

Where did that come from?

Did you make that?

How does it work?

How long did it take?

And suddenly we are talking about art, craftsmanship, engineering, fashion, literature, invention and history.

Steampunk sits beautifully between the worlds of history and imagination. It looks backwards and asks what might have been. It borrows from the past without being trapped by it. It takes Victorian influences, industrial machinery, science fiction, fantasy, craftsmanship and modern creativity and allows each person to interpret them in their own way.

There Is No Correct Way To Be Steampunk

There is no single correct way to be steampunk.

That is the point.

You do not need the most expensive costume.

You do not need to know everything about Victorian history.

You do not need to be an artist, an engineer or an expert maker.

You simply need curiosity.

Everything else can grow from there.

Maybe you begin with a hat.

Maybe you begin with a pair of goggles.

Maybe you begin because a friend dragged you to an event and you had absolutely no idea what you were walking into.

Then somewhere along the way you find yourself surrounded by people who are delighted that you came.

People who want to see what you make next.

People who cheer when your strange idea works.

People who laugh with you when it does not.

People who understand that sometimes the imperfections are what give something its character.

A Place To Belong

That sense of belonging matters.

Because in a world that frequently tells us to fit in, steampunk quietly invites us to stand out.

It tells us that growing older does not mean growing dull.

That being different does not mean being alone.

That imagination is not something we should leave behind with childhood.

That you can survive difficult chapters of your life and still create beautiful things.

And perhaps, through creating those beautiful things, you can help somebody else believe that they can too.

Look Beyond The Costume

So when you see somebody walking proudly through an event wearing something extraordinary, remember that you may be seeing far more than a costume.

You may be seeing hundreds of hours of work.

You may be seeing courage.

You may be seeing recovery.

You may be seeing someone who spent years trying not to be noticed finally allowing themselves to be seen.

You may be seeing somebody discovering their people.

You may simply be seeing somebody having the time of their life.

Every one of those things deserves celebrating.

What We Hope To Build

That is what we hope Steampunk UK can help nurture.

A place where creativity is shared generously.

A place where beginners are welcomed.

A place where experienced makers pass their knowledge on.

A place where unusual ideas are encouraged rather than dismissed.

A place where friendships form around creativity.

A place where people can arrive exactly as they are, or arrive magnificently dressed as the person they have always secretly wanted to become.

Because ultimately, steampunk is not really about the goggles, the corsets, the waistcoats, the gears, the brass or the wonderful machines.

Those are simply the things we use to tell the story.

The real story is about people.

People creating.

People connecting.

People overcoming.

People encouraging one another.

People discovering confidence.

People finding joy.

People finding their community.

And people reminding each other that no matter what chapters have already been written, there is always room to create something extraordinary next.

Written by Petar McAnix, with thoughts by Dijor.