Steampunk Fashion and a day in Lowell

Today was the Steampunk Fashion Day at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA.  The show was part of a greater "Dickens in Lowell" celebration that has been going on since April, celebrating the bicentennial of Charles Dickens' birth and his visit to the town in 1842.  Pretty cool!

Travis and our friend Laura went to a Steampunk Festival in Waltham in the Spring, and since then, Trav has loved the movement.  If you're not familiar, I'd describe "Steampunk" as the blending of 19th century Victorian and what they might have imagined as "futuristic" - aka steam technology.  Think Victorian clothes, but with clocks, steam gadgets, corsets on the outside...anything goes really.  Wanna see some examples?  Look here.

Travis had most of the makings of his costume already, but wanted to make himself a Steampunk'd cane, so he headed to Home Depot for inspiration.  Here's what he ended up with and how it came together!

Pretty cool, hunh?

It was a lot of fun touring the museum.  It was funny running into people dressed up while seeing the exhibits - it added a cool flair to the experience.  There was also a panel discussion where more experienced "Steampunkers" talked about how Steampunk started and gave some tips on how to dress.  I think one of the coolest things about Steampunk is the DIY aspect of the outfits.  Travis made his cane...and Ann made her hat.  In the pictures below, take a closer look.  I bet you'd never guess (if I wasn't telling you), but Ann's hat consists of three parts: a small hat, her husband's black shower loofah, and a (feather) cat toy.  It looked great!

Next we tried to go to the Quilt Museum (for me), but we realized it was closing in 40 minutes (and we didn't want to pay $7 for 40 minutes...) so we walked around town for a while.

We also stopped by the library - a beautiful building inside and out - to see a Dickens art exhibit.  Local artists had made Steampunk busts of villains from Dickens' novels, which were on display throughout one floor of the library.  There was also a large "Steampunk Dickens" at the entrance.

It was a super fun day - can't wait to go back!