Those of you who did normal things this weekend, be shamed. For right at your finger tips was a chance to step back in time, when women wore gigantic skirts and men wore robotic arms.
Did you miss that in history class?
This Saturday I attended Salon Con, a fantastic little event held 4 miles north of New Brunswick, NJ, that celebrates Victorian and Edwardian fashion and style. It’s still small compared to other conventions (this was its third year), but it is steadily growing. The number of people who pre-ordered their tickets this year was more than the total number of people who attended the convention last year. Perhaps this will be the next big thing?
Salon Con (so named for the salons of the olden days), is set up like any convention. There is a schedule of events and at least three things going on at all times, with a few exceptions. One is during tea-time. Every year there is a fancy tea that most of the convention is able to get tickets for, but as tea tickets are sold separately and limited it sells out quickly.
Around 10 p.m. there is an hour break, followed by a burlesque show (performed by the always fantastic White Elephant Burlesque Society), a Masked Ball, and a concert. Last year’s performer was my future husband Voltaire. This year’s was Abney Park (whose show I unfortunately missed as the last train back to Philly left at midnight).
The panels (or salons I guess) vary in topic. There were some on the Victorian idea of the occult (including an extremely creepy seance.) Some on Victorian/Edwardian life. Some on how to make period clothing. Even one on the emerging sideshows of the era, which was hosted by two Philly performers who gladly contorted their bodies and stuck needles into their face for us.
Stealing the show this year was, of course, the Steampunk people. Their costumes (did I mention the guy with the fully functional robotic arm? He had two fully functional robotic arms!) completely blew me away.
Steampunk is the re-imagining of the Victorian and/or Industrial Revolution to be futuristic. What if WWI hadn’t stopped the process of steam and gear power? What if all our modern technology ran by “old-fashioned” means.
Plus, as the Steampunk 101 panelist pointed out, no one looks bad when dressing up.
Your first mistake was assuming I'd joke about something this fantastic.
I only have a few complaints about the Con, and these are things that really can’t be fixed. Because its so small they really can’t have more than three things happening at once, and if those three things don’t interest you that sometimes results in an hour when there’s really nothing to do (of course, I solved this problem by having the leather worker craft me a holder for my stake while I was killing time. Because I am awesome.)
