Please give a warm Nineteen Teen welcome to Shelley Adina, bestselling author of the Magnificent Devices series.
It has been said in withering tones that steampunk is what
happens when Goths discover brown. But I can assure you that isn’t true!
Fashions in steampunk novels can be as varied as the women who wear them—from
peacock feathers to dusty cotton. The guiding principle, though, is the maker
philosophy; in other words, one creates one’s outfits to suit one’s activities
and personality.
In the opening chapters of Lady of Devices, it’s no coincidence that my heroine Lady Claire is
dressed in a seersucker school uniform (indicating she is given no choice in
her dress) and completely forgets her appointment with the dressmaker (a
response to being given no choice at home, either). It’s a sign of things to
come, when she joins forces with a street gang who make their living as
rag-pickers, and learns firsthand about making an outfit out of nothing. But
every heroine has to start somewhere, because the girl who forgets her fitting
with the modiste who outfits the royal princesses has a mother described like
this:
“Lady St. Ives sat
upon the forest-green brocade couch, its width sufficient to accommodate the
bustles and petticoats of the fashionable, in the forefront of which she maintained
a dashing lead. Her navy-and-white striped silk skirts were overlaid by a
polonaise of navy damask trimmed in gold ruching, and gold rosettes drew the
eye to a square neckline and the statuesque figure that was the envy of many a
dumpier matron. The fact that Claire had inherited her father’s height but not
her mother’s figure, her father’s unruly auburn mane and not her mother’s
blonde curls, was a continuing source of despair.” —Lady of Devices
Elaborate gowns have no place in the world of mad scientists,
stolen airships, and explosions that Claire must learn to live in. As the books
go on, she develops her own taste, which runs to practical navy skirts and
pretty blouses (known as “waists” in those days) with sleeves that can be
rolled up so as not to get in the chemicals.
But her favorite outfit is her “raiding rig,” which she has
put together to suit herself and her own needs as the leader of the cleverest
gang in the London underworld:
She had dressed
carefully in raiding rig for the occasion, in a practical black skirt that
could be rucked up by means of internal tapes should she have to run or climb.
She had dispensed with a hat for the evening, choosing instead to simply leave
her driving goggles sitting in front of her piled hair, a gauzy scarf wound
over it and around her neck. A leather corselet contained a number of hooks and
clasps for equipment, and instead of her trusty rucksack, she wore a leather
harness with a spine holster specially made to the contours of the lightning
rifle she had taken from Lightning Luke Jackson three weeks ago. She was pleased
to see that her lacy blouse remained pristine white.
“Great Caesar’s
ghost,” Lord James said, gaping at her. “What in heaven’s name have you got
on?”
“A costume,” she
said, twirling like a ballerina. The fact that her rig was both practical and
sensational delighted her. “Do you like it?”
“You look like an
air pirate. Let those skirts down at once. Do you want His Royal Highness to
see your knees?” —Her Own Devices
In the fictional steampunk world, a woman can wear couture
if it suits her, or put together her own practical outfit. And in the real
steampunk world outside books, a woman can do the same. Some like to comb
secondhand shops and up-cycle pieces to assemble something new and old at the
same time. Some buy ready-made outfits from online stores. And some find pride
in their own craftsmanship, designing and sewing Victorian or neo-Victorian
costumes that reflect their personalities and the characters they play at events
and conventions.
I do a mix—I’ll pair a bustle and skirt I made with an
formal dirndl bodice in black silk that I found in a mountain town in Austria
(see picture). Or I’ll wear a store-bought Edwardian striped skirt with a middy
blouse and bolero jacket I made. With both I’ll wear my Timberland buckled boots,
which have the advantage of being comfortable, practical, and stylish. One
must, after all, be able to dance as well as shoot in any ensemble one wears!
---
RITA
Award® winning author and Christy finalist Shelley Adina wrote her first novel
when she was 13. It was rejected by the literary publisher to whom she sent it,
but he did say she knew how to tell a story. That was enough to keep her going
through the rest of her adolescence, a career, a move to another country, a B.S. in Literature, an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction, and countless manuscript pages.
Shelley is a world traveler who loves to imagine what might have
been. Between books, Shelley loves playing the piano and Celtic harp, making
period costumes, and spoiling her flock of rescued chickens.
No comments:
Post a Comment