Is steampunk going mainstream? A recent piece in the New York Times calls it "that rarity, a phenomenon with the potential to capture a wider audience, offering a genteel and disciplined alternative to both the slack look of hip-hop and the menacing spirit of goth."The steampunk style, a neo-Victorian amalgam of a modern cyberpunk and the past world of Jules Verne--dirigibles and brass, high hats and lace--is stepping out of the shadows of places like The Steampunk Workshop and Etsy and into bricks and mortar stores like Gypsy Moon and the Bombay Company.
So if Target is the next thing to go steampunk, is that a bad thing? Jordan, one of the citizen reporters on the website NowPublic, poses this question in a recent article and has so far received a number of responses from his readers, most along the lines of "once these types of things get to the public eye, they are just over-produced and cheapened." (Jordan's article includes a slideshow of a number of steampunk designs, including one of my necklaces.)
Like everything else, if there's an interest in it and a way to make a buck, you can be certain that the retail giants will follow. So keep your eyes peeled--and tell Oprah I'm ready for my close-up.
4 comments:
I'll be very interested to see what happens with all this mainstream-ness.
And, I'll watch for you on Oprah.
I will be interested too... of course I never really knew about this style as I dont think I have ever really seen it before. But I think with a store such as target that focuses on provided the public with designer styles for WAY less, would realistically only mass produce something that everyone else was wanting/wearing already. - just my opinion.
It will be very interesting to see if Walmart goes with this trend.
But you can alwyas know in your heart of hearts your stuff is better AND you did it first...AND yours are one of a kind, not mass produced.
Well, I'd never claim that I did it first, but at least I'm ahead of the curve on the discount retailer scene!
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