One of my favorite things to do is create a rock star who isn't really a rock star. (Given that the Victorian era hadn't exactly discovered electric guitars yet.) Steampunk begs you to create a leading male who's practically Criss Angel. It makes sense. They wear lots of jewelry, leather or velvet, and usually have longer hair and/or piercings. Plus, it's ideal if the hair is a "different" color. This makes it fantastical since Victorian people probably wouldn't be caught dead with chunky red or purple streaks through their mop. All the vintage-cut threads keep it relevant.My main male is a lot like this. He's heavily tattooed, has dark tussled hair, but wears frocks, top hats and trousuhs. And you can never have too many black boots.
Facebook turned me on to this website: https://shrinestore.com/store/catalog/
They've got
some Steampunk stuff in there with the madness and it got me thinking about Steampunk's close correlation with rock and roll. You know, the mentality. DUDE, check this guy out to my left, man.You know what else is super sexy and tends to be used in this genre? EYELINER ON MEN. I swear, I don't know why more males don't utilize eyeliner in general. I know it's a ton of work and there are all sorts of social stigmas associated with man makeup, but you really can't beat it.
This supports my sexuality theory, which is in favor of men being more colorful and showy. Peacocks, man. Peacocks. With the animal kingdom, the males are the exhibitionists while the females are normally cloaked in subdued colors. Human beings, of course, tend to be opposite when it comes to that which is socially acceptable. Men wear blacks, grays and don't do up their faces or have exorbitant hairstyles. Women have to be every color of the rainbow, with lipstick shadow and blus
h, hair highlighted, lowlighted and bumped. I'm in favor of the rock star man, with roached hair, crazy fashion and eyeliner for days. Of course, as a teenager and a young college student I was deeply into the Japanese visual kei movement, so as you can imagine, I'm a tad on the biased side. Still, in terms of visual stimulation and outlandish fashion, you can't beat the Japanese. In some ways, Anime nurtures Steampunk, as does the video game industry.I feel as though I've digressed quite a bit from the original point. What was the original point? Steampunk men are sexy? I think what I was TRYING to get across was that it's iconic to the genre to paint up the men and make them rock stars. I'm excited to introduce my main character, especially his bad-ass tattoo and of course... his top hat.
