Why I love Steampunk

I feel at home in the weird world of Steampunk and I'm not alone.

Steampunk is for everybody. It doesn't matter how normal nor how bizarre you are in the real world - you're welcome in the world of Steampunk. People who don’t fit in elsewhere, fit in perfectly when they’re together with other steampunks, because steampunk is a safe space where people can express themselves and give vent to their imagination.

If you’re new to the Steampunk scene, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. Well, it’s a unique combination of many things: the actual past mixed with an alternate past, history mixed with fantasy, Goths with Victorians, fantasy creatures with historical characters, white rabbits with red riding hood.

It is like going down the rabbit hole. Or through the looking glass, if you prefer.

Steampunk embraces weirdness

It’s like that scene in the film Bohemian Rhapsody, where Freddie Mercury says that Queen are “... misfits playing for other misfits. They're the outcasts right at the back of the room, who're pretty sure they don't belong. We belong to them." That, to me, is steampunk - it’s a place misfits can belong. And that's a good thing. When my youngest son was three, and would do something daft, I would jokingly tell him he wasn't normal. "No," he would agree, beaming with pride, "I'm not norman."

For me, Steampunk is a place we can all celebrate not being norman.

I like its style and I like that it embraces weirdness. It’s okay to be as weird as you like - because, when you’re free to be weird, that makes other weird people happy!

Going to a steampunk event is like going home because punks are one big, happy, affectionate (and weird) family.

I love the theatricality of it all. Both in the costumes 'punks wear and the performance - there is often an element of role-play as steampunks typically have steampunk pseudonyms.

Steampunk is as relevant to children and young people as it is to old people - who are united in their love of the pagentry and the imagery and the freedom to wear their clockwork hearts on their sleeves.