gdfalken made a great point down below about Oriental Fashion and it's influence on the West in times past.
I concur, and am both fan and participant. While I can in no way top that amazing cassock, I offer a humble entry of my own and hope others will post their Oriental fashion as well.

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The Orient is an often overlooked source for steampunk inspiration. In the West, orientalism was all the rage during the steam age; and in the East, European technology was working its way into societies which saw it both as a foreign intrusion and a necessary means of entering the modern imperial world ( Read more... )

longtime lurker, first-time poster, etc. etc. ellipsis ( Read more... )

I entered my first Steampunk costume in a local SF (edit: That's SF for Science Fiction!) convention Masquerade last weekend. I wanted to add a more oriental flavor than I usually see on this comm and I think I succeeded. If nothing else, I'll be able to wear the ghawazee coat at our Renaissance Festival this year. =D ( Read more... )

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Hello! This site has some very nice pictures of Meiji period Japanese during the 1870s-1880s ( Read more... )

For today's installment of "In Steampunk, History is Stranger than Fiction" we will be looking at the ever-popular concept of "east meets west," which during the steam age included the very dramatic displays of the Opium Wars, the Russo-Japanese War, and even the Sino-Japanese War (which, though it was fought between two Asian powers, was a test ( Read more... )

Hi all you steamers! I've got a couple questions to ask you as a newbie to not only steampunk costuming and crafting, but costuming in general ( Read more... )

Hey, it's me again.  Thank you all for the advice you gave in my last installment of this topic... and now I'm looking for more.  My wife has decided she wants me to make a two-piece hanfu for her.  Any ideas on how to steam one up?

A few people IMed me and said that I should post the first few photos from Saloncon, so here they are.


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