my husband’s getting all steamy…

unfortunately it’s all steam punk and now he’s got me hooked on it even though it’s been around since the 80s.  i’ve always loved the tight bodiced corsetted Victorians with their bizarre and kitsch tendencies for building arcades and collecting glass paper weights and ferns.  Their obsession with mermaids and displaying flora and fauna in museum like display precision.  Jules Verne’s 20 000 Leagues under the Sea always fascinated me, even more so after a childhood submarine experience on the vintage style ride at WDW Florida.  I can still vividly recall the green sides of the submarine and its brown leather inside where you peered outside portholes at floating dummies somebody had weighted in the pool. OK so it was a bit naff by today’s standards, but it was one of the original rides from the 50s and it had this aquatic etherealness to it. It was a classic and so now is its poster. If you can’t imagine what i mean you have to read Celeste Olaquiaga‘s The Artificial Kingdom: A Treasury of the Kitsch Experience (the older publication’s cover is more beautiful available at Abebooks).  So now I have an excuse to bust out my Victorian style black corduroy jacket with gorgeous puffed sleeves and neck to waist buttoning…just needs a skirt like this to die for one. Handmade grey black victorian inspired skirt I found on etsy from PINaR ERIS  based in LA.  And with some accessories…goggles and some lace up heeled ankle boots perhaps.  Now i just have to get my husband a suitable steampunk gadget…

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