Posts Tagged ‘steampunk’

A white wedding isn’t for everyone, especially if you’re of a Gothic disposition. Hail Satan for alternative wedding blog Rock n Roll Bride. My friend Kat Williams posts unconventional marriage photos and tips, encouraging couples to put a personal stamp on their big day.

I’m thrilled to interview her for my column in Lip Service Webzine. What are Kat’s favorite Goth weddings? How would she plan La Carmina’s? Read on and be inspired. (More photos of Kat from her photoshoots here.)

† Tell me about your site.

I started Rock n Roll Bride when I was planning my own wedding in 2007. On discovering wedding blogs, I realised there was a whole world of inspiration out there that you didn’t get in traditional magazines. I started the site as an online diary — a place to gather my thoughts and inspiration.

However after the wedding I decided I rather liked this blogging thing. Although I loved the blogs I read, none of them really posted about alternative weddings. So, in January 2009, I moved to WordPress and started blogging about other people’s weddings — the kinds I loved.

† What was your wedding like?

Contrary to popular belief, our wedding was actually quite traditional. We had a black & white theme — I wore a long white dress but I added a black sash, and my hair was my natural brown! Looks weird to see me in those photos now, it doesn’t look like me at all.

I really only found out about all the amazing alternative weddings and suppliers afterwards. I was sick of being told what our wedding should be like by the wedding industry portrayed in the magazines, and I wanted to inspire other brides (like me) who don’t realize there is another way to do it.

Of course if Gareth and I were to get married again now, our wedding would be totally different to how it was back then, but I don’t regret the way we did it.

† What’s your advice for planning a Goth wedding, and dealing with resistance from family?

I am a massive advocate for people doing what makes them happy and showcasing their personalities. Some of the weddings are simple and laid back, and others are extravagant affairs with burlesque dancers. But at the center of every wedding I feature is a couple in love – that’s the most important thing, so I guess ‘keeping it real’ would be my number one piece of advice.

I think these days, families are more open when it comes to themes — the media has shown a lot of differently styled weddings. I would say physically showing them your ideas is a better way to approach it then just explaining. When I told my Mum we were having a black and white theme she said ‘oh Kat, it’s going to look like a funeral.’ Luckily when I showed her some photos I’d found, she saw that it was anything but that!

† How would you plan La Carmina’s wedding?

I’d imagine you with a very glam wedding — I’m thinking a sexy and tight-fitting PVC dress (maybe black or deep red!) and jewellery with crosses or skulls. I love this crown by Butler and Wilson and this amazing necklace! For your flowers and centrepieces it would have to be decedent deep red or even black roses in tall candelabras, maybe dripping with crystals. Black tablecloths and glassware and candles.

Your cake would have to be a Choccywoccydoodah. They are the most amazing cakes I’ve ever seen, and even do skulls. Your location would obviously be in your favourite themed restaurant in Japan and your music would be J-rock! Doesn’t that sound like an awesome wedding?

And now, a selection of Goth weddings featured on Rock n Roll Bride. The headers link to the full posts.

Darkly dramatic Goth & rock wedding (photos by Devlin Photography)
“We were inspired by all that is dark and whimsical: a fusion of Victorian vamp, fanciful garden beauty and Old-World luxe tweaked with flavours of Rock n Roll and Carnival/Circus. Elements included mismatched French style furniture, vintage silverware abound with roses and ostrich feathers and candelabras, all in a rich palette of blood red, deep plums, black and white. I walked down the aisle to Sweet Child O Mine by Guns N Roses.”

Sleepy Hollow marriage ceremony (photos by Made U Look Photography)
“My initial inspiration was Sleepy Hollow meets a carnival meets a dark wonderland. I also wanted all the guests to wear all black. The bridesmaids’ looks are inspired by 1930s cabaret look. DIY weddings are totally worth it because it ends up really making your day.”

The Ghoulmores’ Night of the Living Wed (photos by Al Overdrive Weddings)
The colorful duo runs the horror-themed clothing company Kreepsville 666. Their ghoulish, retro-horror themed wedding took place on Friday the 13th. The cake was a skull and all the attendees took home a set of cast-silver effect fangs that said ‘fangs for coming’ [groan].

Deep Purple Wedding Gown and Ceremony (photos by Annamarie Stepney Photography assisted by Kim Hawkins)
The venue: a deconsacrated Roman Catholic Church in the centre of London. The bridesmaids wore 1950s-style swing dresses and birdcage veils. The cocktails followed the theme: Black Russians, Raspberry mohitos and passionfruit bellinis.

Fabulously theatrical Gothic ceremony (photos by Toast of Leeds)
“We got prices from Kirkstall Abbey (ludicrously cheap to hire) and the whole thing grew arms and legs all by itself. The lights, fog, music, shrubbery… we had an insanely theatrical wedding with a rock music soundtrack to boot.”

Mad Alice in Wonderland wedding (photos by Freyja Photography)
“It was like gothic Alice in Wonderland meets Avatar. The reception areas were filled with the giant mushrooms and flowers and you felt so tiny when you entered the room. For the party I asked for an old-queen crown, like Count Dracula era. I love vampires.”

Tim Burton Wedding (photos by D Park Photography)
“We were inspired by a visit to Disneyland’s holiday-decorated Haunted Mansion. After looking more at the work of Tim Burton, we decided we wouldn’t limit ourselves to just one of his movies but try to select something from all of them. The purpose wasn’t to be creepy and eerie but to help describe us (like many of his characters) as off-center.”

Burlesque Gothic reception (photos by Eden Exposed)
“The theme for the wedding really revolved around my dress, which was designed and handmade by the amazingly talented Kim Denman. 1950′s underwear themed colour scheme of dusty pink and black, with plenty of feathers, beads, and netting thrown in. Oh, and a massive stuffed pink bow on the back!”

For more corpse brides, you can revisit my Gothic Lolita Weddings post on my La Carmina blog.

† Dark Wishes †

LA CARMINA

How I longed to attend this year’s Wave Gotik Treffen (largest Goth music gathering in the world)! In early June, SiSEN, G-suS and other spooky friends flew to Leipzig, Germany for the festivities.

I couldn’t make it due to travel and scheduling conflicts… but I’m not complaining. Sebastiano and I were flown to Florence, to take part in Luisaviaroma Firenze4Ever (event for 40 top fashion bloggers from around the world). Naturally, we still wore our Goth-Visual clothes! You can see photos from the cocktail party and styling lab on my blog.

Thankfully, talented photographers Seventh Sin (Jen Hoffert and Holger Karas) were front and center at WGT, and wrote this report on the bands and fashion. Is Lolita on the decline? How is steampunk changing? Keep reading to find out. (All images by Seventh Sin.)

Wave Gotik Treffen 2011 was a special one, as it was the 20th anniversary of a gathering of dark people from all over the world. The percentage of foreigners increases every year; this time, we met people from Japan, China, US, Australia and many European countries. The performing artists also come from all over the globe including a metal band from China. With approximately 50 venues spread throughout Leipzig, people gathered at various far-off places, and so the famous WGT catwalk at the Agra Messepark was sometimes rather deserted.

In addition over 250 bands playing over five days, there were many other things to see and do — including free entrance for WGT visitors to museums, the opera and the symphony. One of the largest cinemas hosted a “Twilight” marathon, and smaller ones played indie films like Goths on the Move. At least two independently-organised art exhibitions took place: SEELENFRESSER Titten + Ärsche + Über-Ich at the Werk II venue and S.C.L.S.: State – Society – Landscapes – Society featuring the work of Laibach and Neue Slovenische Kunst.

Fashion-wise there was no obvious new trends this year, but definitely shifts in the most prevalent outfits. While the whole Lolita theme seems to be decreasing, there is a certain increase in both historical and Victorian dresses as well as Steampunk. The Cyber Goth style seemed to decline at the Agra venue, but this might be due to the fragmentation of the festival into three or more hot spots.

The historical-recreation fraction of the Treffen still is mostly a DIY trend, although there are a few specialty brands available that serve this community. The dresses seem to get more elaborate as over the time the sewing skills increase.

In addition to the labels vending at the market, there were some new, smaller labels handing out advertisements: Dark Fusion Boutique, USA, Royal Black, Austria, and Steampunk II, Elfenrausch, Germany.

The increasing number of Steampunks could be sorted into two categories. There were many people using brands like Lip Service to create their basic Steampunk outfit and then “spicing it up” with custom accessories. Others relied mostly on self made items, sometimes overdoing with props and add ons, although the level of ingenuity in the Steampunk community continues to amaze.

Music was widespread through all genres and there were some extraordinary acts on stage this time. Due to our responsibilities as photographers we couldn’t see them all, but at least we were able to sneak in visits to some of our favorites. (Above: Das Ich, who have played at Midnight Mess in Tokyo.)

In the infamous Moritzbastei I was able to stand at the very front row of a Gothika show.

Andro San gave an amazing performance in his pretty red kimono, while Yoshi was more sexy than ever.

The incomparable Diamanda Galas. (Yukiro reviewed her Swedish performance.)

Another inspiring show was Monica Richards project Infrawarrior, with new musicians and an amazing audio-visual concept with ritualistic influences. The presence of Monica and her main dancer Lucretia was amazing and mind shaking, and fortunately, we were able to capture a visual impression.

Even with a reported 23,000 visitors, Wave Gothic Treffen is still “THE” place to gather and find all of our friends, sometimes without even trying. We literally bumped into many people, including SiSen and G-suS from Tokyo on the opera house steps moments before the doors opened to Diamanda Galas. We saw J-Goth Amiyu a few times, including while crawling home at the end of a wonderful but exhausting five days of dark music, culture and friends.

Thank you to Holger and Jen for the scoop! I recommend that you check out the book Black Celebration – 20 years WGT, edited by Jennifer Hoffert and Alexander Nym, which was presented at several readings. “Black Celebration” is a bilingual (German/English) volume with anecdotes, memories and images from two decades of dark underground culture in Leipzig. Contributing authors include musicians such as Bruno Kramm of Das Ich; the images vary from black and white analog in the nineties to full-color digital photography. Hand numbered copies (limited to 300) are still available, but only directly from the publisher, Ploettner Verlag.

Hungry for more visual inspiration? You can go back in time to my 2009 report about WGT. I also featured Seventh Sin photography in this post about Japan Goth fashion and nightlife.

Many travels ahead… next time, I’ll bring you Global Gothic coverage from Hong Kong and Italy. I also recently released a charity T-shirt line, with proceeds going to help Japan. You can see photos and find out more here. Thanks for supporting!

XXX LA CARMINA XXX
http://www.lacarmina.com/

La Carmina and her “latest victim”, Tokyo-based actor / model / stylist Sebastiano Serafini, kick-started 2011… with a blood-drenched Hollywood Invasion! Our Los Angeles trip included photoshoots, TV meetings and hosting Goth parties, such as Bar Sinister New Year’s. But a major highlight was crashing Lip Service headquarters and putting on fangs for a Steampunk Vampire photoshoot.

Our shoot was for Vampyrotic, a magazine to “celebrate our dark sanguinary desires in gorgeously captured photos and video.” We crept into Servitu, a private Los Angeles dungeon, with our mastermind photographer Mich (who took all photos in this post).

But let’s rewind a little bit. We began the day at Lip Service headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. Sebastiano and I were like spooky kids in a candy store: so many clothing samples to try on, from red furry jackets to cage skirts! We met Mickey and Bryn in the red office, and got an exclusive preview of the upcoming designs.

The behind-the-scenes tour made me feel like Alice in Wonderland. Sky-high shelves containing fabric rolls and and boxes of trimmings!

It was impossible to narrow down our clothing choices for the shoot, so we ended up taking several sacks with us (including borrowed top hats and stomper boots). Mich fitted us with vampire teeth, which you first soak in warm water, then press to your canines until they firm up and stay in place.

Servitu Studios was a funhouse of torture equipment, including restraints, medical examination chairs, rusty cages, and a “vacuum bed” that vacuum-packs a person into latex. (Sebastiano: “Should we try?”) We settled on the dark aristocratic chair by the window and filled our wine glasses with blood. Our outfits are mostly coordinated from Lip Service’s Step in Time Steampunk collection.

We changed into Nocturnal Rendezvous and Circuit City garments and climbed to the rooftop. Dusk was falling and the sky was radioactive blue. Perfect for a Power Rangers pose.

Domo arigato gozaimasu to Mich, Mickey, Bryn, Maria and everyone at Lip Service for having us as models. I’ll post more photos from the Steampunk Vampire fashion shoot on La Carmina blog, in addition to scandalous Los Angeles Gothic fashion and party photos… come take a drive-by!

† Dark Wishes †

LA CARMINA

Hello, I’m La Carmina, your travel guide to the darkest and most fashionable spots on the globe! This month, we dip down under into Sydney, Australia. I interview Leanne (The Fashionate Traveller) about the best Gothic/Industrial shops and nightlife that her home has to offer. (That’s her in the dreaded wigs, above, with Amelia of Angelspit. The first three images are courtesy of her.)

La Carmina: Tell me a bit about yourself.

Leanne: I’m an Aussie girl who’s into alternative/Gothic fashion and blogs about it, as well as her travel adventures round the world. I used to be the Fashion Editor for Australian Gothic magazine “Fiend”, but I left last year to concentrate more on my blog and have more time to travel. I travel to Japan twice a year to keep up with the Gothic/alternative fashion, people, music and clubs there, and I also go to three or so other places each year, often in Asia.

La Carmina: How did you first become interested and involved in Goth /underground subcultures in Sydney?

Leanne: I was always into alternative music, and first went to a Gothic club “Ritual” probably 1998. I loved the clothing: how gorgeous the girls looked in the corsets and long pvc skirts, and how gorgeous the guys were too! I was surprised that I knew so much of the music: not only Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie, The Cure, and the Cult, but also Tea Party, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Severed Heads, The Church, Prodigy, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Filter & the Crystal Method…

When I started going out with my now husband, I dragged him back to the Goth club, as well as other ones such as Hellrazor and later, Wake the Dead and Vortex. We loved being able to hear “our” sort of music and meet new lovely people as well. Soon we became fixtures on the scene and now go to Goth/industrial/alternative clubs nearly every weekend. In Australia, the clubs are reasonably open, so you don’t have to be fully Gothed up to get in.

La Carmina: How would you describe Gothic fashion in Sydney/Australia?

Leanne: There continues to always be the Victorian/Edwardian element, so there will always be girls in corsets, with long skirts or gowns. The cyber look was really popular from when I became a regular in 2003/4, where the look was PVC everything: shiny buckled platform boots, hair falls in rubber/tubing/bright color dreadlocks , short PVC skirts, lots of chrome D-rings, reflective materials, lights that blinked on and off, LEDs.

I myself used to dress this way, although Amelia – aka DestroyX (who also used to live in Newtown) was probably the poster girl for the look. Amelia put in my first dreads; she was the reigning fake hair queen, and used to sell fantastic dreadlocks for braiding in or as falls. This was before she & Karl started Angelspit. (Wildilocks is another fake hair queen from Perth, and she now has salons in Melbourne, Perth & in NZ.)

There were also more guys in pirate shirts and the whole new romantic Goth look back in the early 2000′s. Now many wear industrial type gear – black pants with bondage straps and buckles, and the military look is popular too.

Cyber is a little less prominent now – although the younger kids still love it to death. A lot of the older goths have moved more into Steampunk. The style is gaining prominence here in Australia, but is not as big as in the US & UK.

We’ve had semi-regular Steampunk events for the past few years (esp in Melbourne), but this year was the first time Sydney had a Steampunk Symposium as part of the Fringe festival  and the Gothic/ alternative arm of the festival, Under the Blue Moon (which had Fashion Parade Lunarmorph later in the night after the Steampunk Symposium). I wrote posts on these here and here.

We’ve also seen a lot of Goths get into the burlesque and vintage/rockabilly scenes, so there is quite a bit of crossover, esp at clubs like Black Cherry. Some have completely left the Goth scene and totally embraced the vintage subculture, while others combine semi-Goth attire like corsets with hair in victory rolls.

La Carmina: Can you recommend some Sydney /Australia clothing brands, designers and shops? (Photos above from a Fiend Magazine steampunk shoot.)

Leanne: There are so many! Enmore Road in Enmore/Newtown is the Gothic Mile and has quite a few goth, punk, fetish & alternative businesses – clothing, hairdressers, piercing places, art galleries. My blog post here sums it up.

Gallery Serpentine is a fantastic corsetmaker and sells a lot of really high quality alt fashion. Reactor Rubber is absolutely ace for latex and other fetish gear. In Visible light is great for costumes, steampunk gear, novelty items, dolls, contact lenses etc (see my blog post for more on all these) The Wild One is quite cyber with lots of PVC. There’s also House of Fetish on Oxford St in Darlinghurst, which sells Goth and fetish wear.

As for labels: Purpur is a new military one from Russia (now in Melbourne) that’s very popular. Beserk is an online store based in QLD. Matt Bylett is an amazing costumier who does fantastic things in latex. He did the costumes and some prosthetics/creatures for sci-fi series Farscape. DollyQ is from Melbourne Victoria – great fashion, corsets, crinolines, fashion forward stuff. Sydney Tentacle Threads is new and very Tim Burton. Geomythik is a label and she also runs the alternative fashion shwo Worn Wild in Sydney and Melbourne.

The big Sydney alt fashion parade is Lunarmorph. The other big Goth/alt fashion show is Circa Nocturna  http://www.circanocturna.com/ but in Melbourne only.

La Carmina: If I came to  Sydney/Australia and you were my tour guide, where would you take me to party? (Photos above and below from Cobweb Club.)

Leanne: Here’s a LiveJournal community for Sydney Goths, and a big Aussie Goth resource. There’s a really active scene in the major cities of Australia, with Sydney & Melbourne offering the most variety (though Queensland and Perth also have good clubs). My favorites are Die Maschine (Goth), Berserk (Industrial) and Cobweb Club (Goth/deathrock/post-punk) in Sydney. At Cobweb, the DJs and patrons alike sport huge deathrock hairdos and sometimes white /skeleton face make-up, and wear old school clothes – ripped, holed, layered fishnets etc.

Also check out Shallow Nation (Harsh EBM, Industrial), Black Cherry (alt generally, some old Goth stuff, also punk, cockrock, glam, rockabilly, psychobilly), and also the non-Goth but Goth friendly Take It or Leave It: a ska and punk club (with a tiny bit of old school like Siouxsie).

There is also the new and semi-occasional Pandimensional Halloween Syndicate that last time had a band called the Barons of Tang who were billed as Gypsy Deathcore (!) and a performance from Burtonesque characters (as well as burlesque, which has soared in popularity recently). Also the Steampunk club that occurs every few months called Steam Engine ix. Many clubs are on once a month, some are every few months. Sometimes there are several on at the same time, so it’s hard to choose, esp if you have broad musical tastes!

Bonus interview! I asked Gerry, the editor of Fiend Magazine, for his input on Melbourne’s Goth fashion and scene. He runs Melbourne goth club Cabaret Nocturne, created Goth City Maps, and brings out bands through Rivetting Promotions.

Gerry: I’ve been involved with clubs in Melbourne since I moved here from Ireland about 8 years ago. It all started via a chance encounter at a very quiet alternative club when the promoter started chatting to me, the following week I was DJing there, which later led me to meet my friend and business partner Thomas with whom I run Cabaret Nocturne to this day.

Melbourne has quite a fractious scene in terms of style. We have very strong and passionate contingents from the Deathrock/Oldschool Gothic, through to Cyber and Rivethead right up to Steampunk enthusiasts. Cabaret Nocturne seems to draw a fairly even spread of the above due to our eclectic music policy and multi-room format.

Club culture seems to drive our fashion a fair bit, for example there is a very driven Deathrock/Trad Goth group of promoters and DJs who have really brought about a resurgence of that style in Melbourne in recent years, similarly I think bands like Angelspit have kept the more Cybergoth look alive over the whole country. Steampunk and vintage looks have certainly grown significantly in recent years.

For shopping I might suggest checking out the Melbourne entry on rudimentary but useful Goth City Maps site I’ve created. As for clubs, Melbourne has an extremely diverse and ever evolving club scene with a strong mix of weekly and monthly events, long standing stalwarts like Cab Noc and Golgotha are always to be relied on but there is usually a number of new and interesting niche events coming and going too. Obviously I’d bring you along to Cabaret Nocturne for a party you’d likely never forget… if it were a public holiday weekend, Golgotha would be a must. If your tastes are more specialized somewhere like Z-1 or The Shock of the New would satisfy your desires for dark beats, or the ever popular DV8 for any goth, rock and metal impulses.

Thanks to Rachel Black for the bonus photos above, which show outfits from Australia Goth events in the 1990s. And thank you to Gerry and Leanne for the in-depth interviews.

I hope this edition encourages you to fly down under and experience Australia’s Gothic shops and culture! Check back next month, for the next Global Gothic column. Til then, you can see my Tokyo / Japan Gothic & Lolita shopping maps, photos and club guides on my blog: www.lacarmina.com/blog

† Dark Wishes †
LA CARMINA