Home Made
For most of us fashion is a big thing. We spend thousands of pounds on our clothes to suit our style though this has only become an option to us in the past twenty years or so due to people gaining more disposable income. But, even with mass availability of clothing, certain styles are still hard to come by in High-Street stores and it’s often left to online retailers to carry them.
Steampunk is one such fashion style that is hard to shop for as most High-Street stores wouldn’t stock it. Though online retailers are far easier to find and offer a great number of products, it’s not always worth the money especially when the quality of the products doesn’t meet expectations.
Imogen Laverick, aged 20, has found a way around this problem. By hand making her clothes.
“I first started sewing when I was in secondary school. It was one of the things I thought I would need to be able to do so that I could make my own costumes for comic conventions, just small tweaks to existing clothing so they looked correct
“In college, I decided that I would have a go at making a costume from a pattern and just modify it the way I wanted it to look. When I’d finished, I liked how it looked and that’s how I got into making my clothes. It was easier and cheaper to make them myself anyway.
“Most of the outfits I make take hours to complete and over 15 yards of material but, in the end, I think they look better than anything I could buy. Now I find that when I go shopping I’m either looking at the quality of the work gone in to making it or looking for ideas for my next projects”
Miss Laverick wears her creations daily, often getting mixed reaction from the public. While most stare as they pass, others are more vocal, sometimes making positive comments such as admiring how she looks while others throw insults. Though she doesn’t wear them while she is at work as she is required to wear a uniform, she still lets her Steampunk style come through with her make up.
For those who are interested in joining the Steampunk Revolution then clothes can be brought from the high street in stores like Blue Banana and online at Dracula clothing www.draculaclothing.com and, if you feel really creative, ordinary clothing can be changed with help from Calista Taylor’s book “Steampunk your wardrobe”
