Written for Steampunk Magazine’s blog, released here as in conjunction with Beyond Victoriana’s own addressing of Victorientalism (far more comprehensive this this post; treat this essay as a 101-level article as you will).

There is a fairly recent term that has sprung in the annals of steampunk: Victorientalism. It is used to refer to steampunk that is inspired by the Orient, the vague, large region that was strange and new to Western explorers back in the day when there was no Internet and travelling took many months of dangerous journeying.

It’s a pretty-sounding term, often used by well-meaning white people who don’t have any clue just how racist the term is.

I want to nip this in the bud before it takes any more traction and people start using it for Asian steampunk by Asians, because Victorientalism, created by Occidentals, does not truly describe Asian-inspired steampunk, much less steampunk participation by Asians.

To understand why Victorientalism is inaccurate as a label for Asian steampunk, first we must investigate what the roots of the terms are. It is the mixture of two words: Victorian and Orientalism.

Victorian as an adjective, describes things related to the reign of Queen Victoria. It is often used to refer to the entire time period of her reign, too.

Orientalism was the study of “The Orient”. The term “Orient” referred initially to the Middle-East, and gradually spread out to encompass all of Asia. Orientalism was the study of the Orient, by Europeans. “The Orient”, Edward Said explains to us, “is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other.”

However, while the British Empire did extend very far, its reign was not absolute, nor did it encompass all of Asia. 19th century Asia had its own aesthetic, however pillaged and plundered by the Europeans it was. There were other European powers in play besides the British.

Orientalism as a study was deeply flawed, being based on ideas that Europeans had about the East. Orientalism as a fashion is not only flawed, but deeply racist, as it depended on Europe’s position of power to appropriate without complaint from the actual inhabitants of “the East”. Orientalism as an idea is really about what Europe thinks about the East, which really means, it’s all about Europe, not about Asia.

In the Gatehouse Gazette’s description of Victorientalism, there is an assertion that “we can safely recreate the Orient as it was described and depicted by nineteenth century authors and artists who might never have actually seen it.”

Anyone who has ever engaged in examining the hubris of their own privilege will be able to see, straight off, the trainwreck that this quote leads to.

To begin with, we must assert the reality of this statement: the Orient has already been re-shaped by the very real colonialist politics of history. The effects of colonization have been devastating: Western economies benefitted from the colonies, and continues to do so even after withdrawing from their shores; the imposition of European culture on the East has caused cultural evolutions and revolutions as some countries struggle to re-shape their identities, in ways that are fraught; the Asian identity has been devalued, relegated to being objects of curiousity and exoticism, instead of being respected for being what it is.

Due to the power invested in Westerners today, borne from the history of colonization, there is no way to safely recreate the Orient, without yet creating more assumptions of stereotypes, without imposition of these stereotypes on actual people. This practice has precedent in the term “The Orient” alone: once a simple term to describe “the East”, it has over time become loaded with immediate association to the exotic, the opposite, the Other.

Today, Westerners continue to consume cultural artifacts from other cultures, many of whom unaware, or unwilling to acknowledge, that cultures are not meant for decoration, nor do they exist for the entertainment of the current hegemony, much like Europeans from the 19th century buying porcelain and silk.

To many, steampunk is associated with Victorian Britain. There are some who assert that steampunk stems from Victorian Britain – and end the argument there, leaving behind the implication that steampunk is *only* based in Victorian Britain.

Exactly why would anybody want to limit steampunk, which is, after all, yet another avenue to exercise the imagination? If a person is referring to their own form of steampunk, of course, one would want to have limits for what one will do. However, it is not only obnoxious, but arrogant to assert that this must be the case for all participants.

After all, life did not end with Britain in the 19th century. Asian and African peoples lived their own lives in their own continents, minding their own business the best they would while dealing with the colonizers. Their lives are as valid as those of 19th century Europeans. They, too, deserve to be recognized; their descendants, too, deserve to the chance to assert this history of theirs which is so often ignored in history books.

Victorientalism, by its very name, centers around a very specific experience, a very specific history, a very specific idea. That idea is the imposition of a Victorian Orientalist’s vision of what Asia should look like. And we all know what a Victorian Orientalist would be in the first place.

The Orient was always meant to provide a foil to the Occident. These two terms, go together, like East and West.

However, few use the term Occident anymore (the few who do use the term unironically have questionable agendas). We use the term Orient because it has specific ideals attached to it that allows us to continue Other-ing the East. It may not be as loaded as the N-word, but for the Asian community, the stereotypes that the term reinforces are exoticising, and the results are the same: the exclusion of Asian people from being counted as default human beings.

In steampunk, many participants claim that they want to claim all that was good of the age, while leaving out the bad. This is rather disingenuous, since many exclusionary attitudes and behaviours today that people are not conscious of stem from that time period. However, we must give participants benefit of doubt, and I will do so through the following suggestion.

The term “Orient”, being exclusionary to actual people of colour, should be resigned. And with it, the term Orientalism, which leaves the term Victorientalism toothless. One might give a concession to the Victorientalists, and allow the term to mean “what Victorians think Asian materials look like”. But this is a dangerous game – the term Oriental was so pervasive, not only the colonizers used it, but over time, the colonized took on the term in the auto-exoticism process. The same can all too easily happen with “Victorientalist”, as privilege systems are still very much the same and favour the descendants of the colonizers.

There is nothing to redeem in these terms, when there are perfectly good terms available – why call someone an Oriental when they are Asian? Or one can be more specific and go right down to country of origin, or ethnicity. Why use a term so fraught with a history of Other-ing, or rendering real peoples invisible and not-quite-human?

To insist on using the term is to maintain the status quo that continues to marginalize some peoples to the benefit of others.

VictOrientalism continues the racist tradition of Orientalism that has historically marginalized those recognized as Easterners. It maintains the East-West dichotomous construct that Others cultures.

As steampunk grows, so will the variety of people who wish to participate. Steampunk would be all the poorer if it were limited to an Eurocentric focus (and poorer still if we must insist solely on Victorian England). With the benefit of hindsight, we have the opportunity to address the injustices of the past and promote a diverse environment wherein marginalized groups can express themselves.

The world is more than what a single group thinks it to be. In confrontation with injustice, honesty can be found. In honest communication between groups and individuals, differences are discovered. In the chaos filled with differences, understanding is achieved. With understanding, creativity is unfettered.

Yes, we’re winding up the clockwork horses and stoking up the steam-powered salesman, ready to get out into the real world this March.

On the 13th and 14th March, you can find us behind a table at the Maker Fair;

And on the 27th March we’ll be manning and womanning a stand at White Mischief.

We’ll have a full compliment of magazines for sale–including the brand new Issue #7. Come and find us, say hello and paw the merchandise. We’ll be expecting you!

Flight history photographs from GD Falksen, featuring all manner of zeppelins, balloons, and dangerous-looking contraptions. (Also from Mr. Falksen, The Zouaves, who all wear the most excellent pants.)

Octopi as interior decor from The Steampunk Home.

Some lovely costumes at Dragon Con, also featuring octopi.

Victorian Photocollage at the Metropolitan Museum Art in NYC.

Trains, temples, and a super-cute monkey from Voyages Extraordinaries, this time in Kyoto.

Epic Victorian workshop photos from Brass Goggles.

Not eye candy, but also worth your while…

Natural fabric dye from Libby at Steampunk Workshop, explaining how to turn random things in your kitchen into beautiful fabric dye.

Black Hills by Dan Simmons reviewed by our friend Ay-leen at Beyond Victoriana.

Dru Pagliassotti, who’s been mentioned here before for her posts on Steampunk politics/ideology, has had several interesting posts up lately on minimalism – its nature and its purpose. It’s not specifically steampunk, but has me wondering how the two concepts might interact, and might be of interest to some.

It was the collection entitled Highland Rape that made me first sit up and take notice.

In his Winter 1995 collection at London Fashion Week, his second show, British fashion designer Alexander (known as Lee) McQueen tapped into his Scottish roots to channel the Highland Clearances into a collection that grabbed world attention and headlines.

I was then a fashion editorial and photographic director for a major New Zealand daily newspaper. Having Scottish ancestry, and a fan of fashion’s enfant terribles such as John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier, I was naturally excited by the prospect of a new challenger to that crown.

The Highland Rape collection featured disheveled and battered-looking models in torn tartan clothing. McQueen said he was commenting on the “rape” of Scotland by the British, though critics of his work saw in it a perverse and misogynistic celebration of the sexual violation of women.

For the show McQueen transformed an industrial loft space into a chaotic battleground symbolizing 1746’s Battle of Culloden. The show also acted as a modern day conscientious objection against Cumberland’s 1746 Dress Act clause in the Act of Proscription, which made it illegal to wear Highland dress, in particular the kilt.

The show and that collection set the marker for the so-called “bad boy” of British fashion to experience a future of success.

At that time, I watched and wrote as some New Zealand designers, most notably in the “Dark Fashion Central” of New Zealand known as Dunedin, which has a very strong Scottish-settler base, picked up on this aesthetic.

I recall the season around that time that former Dunedin designer Nicholas Blanchet sent his controversial “rugby” menswear collection down the runway, complete with models with painted-on “bruises”. It had a very “McQueen” stamp about it.

Later I recall reading how McQueen met leading British stylist Katy England, who he poached from her media role as a stylist to become his creative director. He said he had encountered her outside a high profile fashion show, where she was trying to “blag her way in”.

“Lee liked the way I looked,” Ms England later told The Observer. “He said he’d noticed what I wore. I had on a fantastic nurse’s coat with an amazing shoulder detail.”

He had just completed his second collection. She began working with him on his third, The Birds, shown at Kings Cross, and has been a part of the team ever since.

This morning, after an evening spent working on the finishing of a pattern for a tailored jacket (which undoubtedly owes something to McQueen’s edgy fashion contribution over the years) I awoke in disbelief to a text from a friend and fellow Kiwi clothes maker: Alexander McQueen is dead.

I have always appreciated McQueen’s edgy aesthetic, and in recent years have found some of his more historical and gothic references inspiration for Steampunk-style design.

His influence upon the current wave of steampunk style has been huge; he is undoubtedly one of the major inspirations for the sudden rush of global steampunkness.

“Haute couture steampunk neo-industrial goth” was how blogger Octavine Illustration described McQueen’s Fall 09 Haute Couture collection in March 2009. “An apocalyptic post-millennial celebration of black and white. The fashions, while not wearable by the likes of most, spoke to the current sense of global economic meltdown. Spectacular.”

As stated in the New York Times in May 2008, and now posted on Impactlab.com: “Steampunk style is corseted, built on a scaffolding of bustles, crinolines and parasols and high-arced sleeves not unlike those favoured by the movement’s designer idols: Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and, yes, even Ralph Lauren.”

Another blogger wrote that McQueen was “seriously putting the ‘punk’ in ‘steampunk’” and yet another, that “his dark and twisted sense of humour and Gothic references are mingled with subtle digs at his fellow designers and the current economic climate”, and that some of his shoe designs “might be taking the whole steampunk thing to the next level”.

On the question of the stunning and out-of-this-world skyscraper shoes McQueen has sent down the runway in recent times, the Teacups and Couture blog said quite accurately that they “belong on a steampunk robo-chick”. Undoubtedly, that was the culturally-astute McQueen’s intention, as it taps perfectly into the zeitgeist.

More recently Alexander McQueen has become known for dressing Lady Gaga, most spectacularly in the recent “Bad Romance” video. He used this song as the finale of his Plato Atlantis Spring/Summer 2010 live internet fashion show for the collection for Spring 2010. This was a groundbreaking moment, when anyone with an internet connection had a front row seat to one of the season’s hottest shows.

This, his last collection, was a sinewy, sensual parade of sublimeness, with exquisite rippley, silky fabrics printed with designs of reptilian beauty. They were paraded on models slinking down the runway and trying to negotiate walking in McQueen’s unusual-shaped futuristic skyscraper shoes.

Over the years, Alexander McQueen has combined that very British aesthetic already plundered by designers and older peers such as Vivienne Westwood – tailoring, tartan and tweed – with a very modern, sensual and edgy sensibility. A product of the famous fashion talent incubator, the illustrious Central St Martins College of Art and Design in London, he was controversial, outspoken on some things, while at the same time gracious, skilled, and with his eye firmly on the main game.

While he could send extraordinary other-worldly creations down the runway, his commercial garments were at the same time very wearable, and even at times quite classical. He happily blended the best of both worlds – wild creativity, with down-to-earth practical wearability. He was also never one to shy away from the bold statement or avoid the difficult issues that face us.

In October 2008 veteran British fashion journalist Sarah Mower wrote on Style.com that his Spring 09 collection featured a video projection of a revolving Earth, and flanked by a zoo of stuffed animals, portraying endangered species. McQueen explained, through program notes, that he had “been pondering Charles Darwin, the survival of the fittest, and the deleterious results of industrialization.”

“McQueen’s couture sensibilities are breathtaking in close-up, where the detail of flowers and birds becomes visible in lace underlayers and then echoed in lace ankle-wrappings incorporated in shoes,” Ms Mower wrote.

The designer was said to be despondent over the death of his mother last week.

“I’m letting my followers know my mother passed away yesterday if it she had not me nor would you RIP mumxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx…” he wrote on Twitter following her death.

He added shortly afterwards: “But life must go on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

McQueen’s friend, the influential British fashion insider Isabella Blow who helped his career take flight, took her own life in 2007 at the age of 48.

It is my personal view that grief is something not well understood in our fast-paced industrialized world. Clearly, Lee was devastated by the loss of his mother.

We cannot know what the designer would have come up with next. He had become so “hot”, the fashion world waited with bated breath to see what he would dream up next. Sadly, now, we will never know.

I hope the world, and history, will be able to finally forgive him this premature finale, and to remember and salute Alexander McQueen for the brilliant bright light that he was.

And as a fitting tribute, may I leave the last word to Canadian television host Jeanne Beker of CTV, a front row regular at his shows: “He reminded us all why we love fashion, and fashion became more relevant in his glow.”

Fabiana Bronte is an experienced fashion writer, stylist, photographer, designer and chronicler, now living in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Lots going on at Steampunk Fashion! First, a photoshoot of some steampunk X-Men costumes, which I quite enjoyed. Second, The Gatehouse Gazette is looking for “Victoriental” fashion photos for an upcoming fashion column, so click through if you have any to contribute. And lastly, the ever charming G. D. Falksen has a post full of costume-inspiring fashion pictures about bright colors in steampunk/Victorian outfits.

Steampunk Scholar has a lovely post on steampunking tabletop RPGs.

The Flight of the Icarus has posted the first of several promo videos for their upcoming Steampunk World’s Faire, featuring Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls.

(Speaking of the Dresden Dolls: Have you all heard of the Evelyn Evelyn controversy? Any thoughts?)

Have I missed anything? Feel free to post links in the comments!

Last time you all seemed to agree that a roundup was a good plan, so here’s question number two: Were I to include in each week’s post a brief calendar of upcoming steampunk events, would that be useful? They’d probably be mostly North American, as I trust Allegra and the others in the UK to keep you all up to date on events on that side of the ocean.

Also, I’ve decided to bake “steampunk” cupcakes this weekend, and haven’t figured out quite what that entails other than, of course, gear decorations on top. Ideas, anyone? Maybe I’ll write epic tales on the liners…

These can once again be purchased through the mail order page of the Vagrants website.

For you less-artsy types: Voyages Extraordinaries is having a month for Japanese steampunk, and are kicking it off with a drawing for the Steamboy Director’s Cut DVD. The winner will be chosen on Feb. 27th. There’s also some pretty cool posts up already about Japanese Scientific Romances and the Miyazaki Museum, if you’re interested!

(Side note: I’m thinking of making a sort of weekly round-up post a regular feature. Would this be interesting and helpful, or annoying and redundant?)

Steampunk Scholar has a review of Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, which I’ve wanted to read for a while. Anyone read it yet? Thoughts?

Ever adorable, The Steampunk Home has some cool pictures of maps as wallpaper for a fun steampunk decorating idea. Also, more recently, she has some links for where to buy skeletons, in case you were wondering.

Steampunk Fashion posted a link to some lovely fashion photography, most of which is not very steampunk, but some of which features penny farthings, which is enough in my book to earn it a mention. (If you don’t already follow it, Steampunk Fashion is a pretty good resource for folks in the United States looking for events to go to, as well.)

Beyond Victoriana, who we’ve mentioned here before, have an interview with the creators of the awesome-looking upcoming webcomic The Seven.

Did I miss any awesome blogs? Feel free to leave links in the comments!

However, the past few months have seen a bit of a drought in emails that we can include in our ‘Correspondence’ section, which is why I am here talking to you now!

Have you read the last issue? (Or any of the other issues, for that matter)

Is there an article that you liked? Didn’t like? That made you think? That didn’t?

Do you wonder where we get the lovely little cogs that we put on the front covers from?

Do you have any interesting thoughts/feelings/ideas/cheese sandwiches to share with us?

Or any questions that you want to ask?

Now is your chance! Do not delay!

Email collective [at] steampunkmagazine [dot] com this instant. If we like you, we shall immortalise your words in print for all eternity.

Or something.

(PS – if we are sounding more unhinged than normal, please see the first sentence of this message for an explanation)

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing
From left to right: Marc Burrows (bass), Ben Dawson (drums), Andy Heintz (vocal/saw), Andrew McNeill (vocal/guitar)

Despite half of the tube system shutting down for the weekend (and despite the fact that we managed to get ourselves completely lost in the separate time-zone that is King’s Cross St Pancras station), this last weekend we (albeit eventually) managed to find our way to the Cross Kings pub for the London Steampunk Spectacular.

The Cross Kings could probably best be described as an ‘intimate’ setting for the three bands, various traders and two hundred steampunks that were crammed into it, but that certainly didn’t hurt the atmosphere or dampen anyone’s spirits.

In attendance were both Ghostfire and The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing — two bands that have been making big names for themselves in the developing British steampunk scene over the last year. But then we also had Savile Row, a band that no one seemed to know anything about, and who hadn’t played together in ten years. We were also fortunate enough to have the wonderful Robert Rankin as the master of ceremonies (and who duly entertained us with a mixture of wit, singing in the style of Dick Van Dyke, and the poetry of Aleister Crowley), not to mention Lady Raygun, whose steel drum performances are quickly becoming a staple at UK steampunk events.

Savile Row were first to take to the stage, and despite having split up ten years ago, they proved to be a genuinely pleasant surprise. Not only were they incredibly tight for a band that had only rehearsed two or three times in the last decade, but do you know what else? They were also really good. In fact, if anything they were even better than the ten-year-old recorded material on their MySpace page suggested. Hopefully the gig gave them a taste for playing together again and we shall be seeing more of them in the near future.

Next up were the highly-lauded Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. The Men are pretty much always and without fail the best steampunk band that you will ever see live, but on the night of the London Steampunk Spectacular they were on fire, and most definitely in full funny, sarcastic, angry, anti-imperialist voice. A little later on, we dragged the four of them upstairs by their grubby little collars to chat about their music, steampunk and the upcoming album, and you’ll be able to catch that interview (as well as a review of the aforementioned album) in the next issue of the magazine.

Ghostfire were our headline act, and as always turned out a consummate performance and worked their magic on the crowd. They also performed some new material including ‘The Last Steampunk Waltz’ (which will shortly be released as a single, although there was some argument amongst the band as to when exactly that will be!), and also a song that was described as Russian dance with added drinking.

The stalls were arranged by the Victorian Steampunk Society’s Major Tinker and Lady Elsie, and while there was only (very!) limited space in the (very!) peculiar venue (which, granted, was a delightfully odd mixture of the period and the psychedelic, with some pretty awesome people working on the door and behind the bar), everyone made the best of it. As ever, it was wonderful to see such a fantastic selection of the handmade, handcrafted and handsewn on display.

All in all, a pretty damned fantastic night was had by all. As the UK’s steampunks slowly venture further away from their internet connections and start to form the beginnings of a community over here, we’re absolutely certain that we shall be having more nights like this one, too.