Fashion Friday: Book Cover Art

A blog post on Publishers Weekly got me thinking about the importance of good cover art, so I thought I'd assemble some of my least favourites. Maybe next week I'll actually pick some good ones, but these are way more fun.

Now, the moment you've surely scrolled past my intro for, thus ignoring my hard work. The top (or bottom) 5 worst covers.





These first two represent the art movement I like to call "Photoshop Diarrhoea", sharks, dogs and flamingoes, nothing is safe! If you can find a picture of it, just paste it in there, the more the merrier!



There is no shortage of bad cover art in old SF and Fantasy. This one pretty much sums it up. Green men in green spacesuits travel in their green UFO to visit the floating giant blue cat-head people. I don't even want to get in to the problems with the title. I have no idea what the book is about, and I'm a bit scared to find out.


I think this is meant to be erotica for retirees. The grin on grandpa's face is just... disturbing.


Last, the classic when it comes to bad title decisions. No comment necessary.


Bonus! A sixth bad cover! Do I deliver the goods or what. The possible captions here are endless, create your own and leave it in the comments. I'll post the best next week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fashion Friday: Bathrooms

I thought I'd take a bit of a different angle on fashion today and look at some interior design. The bathroom is not exactly the first place people would think of when they consider Steampunk-ifying their lives, but there are some very cool ideas out there.

Toilets are of course, essential, and while I probably wouldn't want (or, for that matter be allowed) to have either of these models in my house, they do present some interesting design ideas and elements that could be incorporated into a simpler, less extreme version (a man's home is his castle after all, so the throne has to be at least somewhat comfortable).




This shower is more my style, I could absolutely see something like this in my house one day.

The Bathroom at Smith and Mills Restaurant in New York is delightfully steampunk looking (although in reality it's just very old), it was made out of an old elevator car, and the sink comes from a train berth. To empty the sink you fold it up against the wall.

Finally, here's a Steampunk bathroom I think I could actually get my wife behind. I love these old-style tubs that sit in the middle of the room like that.

Fashion Friday: What's up with the Goggles?

There are many opinions as to the origin of goggles in steampunk. Some say it came from the real-world movement and translated into literature, artwork and film over time. This crowd leans towards the theory that goggles were first worn in a steampunk context at Burning Man, as simple eye protection, because of all the dust.

Others say it's because goggles were simply more common in the Victorian context. Eye protection was worn by those shovelling coal into the engines, scientists performing experiments, and some trains had passenger compartments open to the air, where passengers wore goggles to protect themselves from the wind.

However, as far as I can determine, the first use of goggles in a steampunk context I can find is in Phil Foglio's "Girl Genius". Way back in 2000, he published the first issue, and already goggles were an important part of the aesthetic.



Whatever the source, they're a staple of steampunk garb. From the complex lenses worn by The Dark Power.



To forehead (or hat) worn decorative goggles.





To the genuine antique models.



Goggles will always be one of the defining fashion accessories of steampunk.

Now, does anyone know of a good place to shop for goggles, or do you have a goggle story? I'd love to hear about it, leave a comment below.

Hats

One thing which steampunk is bringing back to the world is the hat. It's an important bit of clothing, worn by every culture in every time period since men started making tools, yet in the past hundred years they've fallen completely out of fashion. Baseball caps do not count, especially if worn backwards or sideways, that's actually pushing hats lower on the fashion scale than wearing none at all.

Hats are style. As Neil Gaiman wrote in Anansi Boys, "...all you need to wear a hat is attitude..." If you can wear a hat without feeling silly in it, it makes you look good.

So, here are some good places to look, when you start shopping for hats.


These men's hats from Museum Replicas cover all your basic needs. Museum Replicas also has an excellent collection of other costuming odds and ends. I especially like their leather greatcoat.

Naturally Etsy is a great place to look. Shops like caribbeanrosepirate (pictured above)

TheBlondeSwan

and rosewoodstitches, provide a wide variety of hats, mostly in women's styles.


If your tastes run to the wildly decorative, you might want to give the House of Wormwood a look (pictured above and below).


There is a hat to suit every steampunk style. Just remember, it's all about attitude.