Steampunk Dress: The Unintentional Agatha Heterodyne Cosplay

The Copper Steampunk Apron-Dress is very much the old Steampunk Dress with a colour shift. It largely came about when the Mercenary stumbled upon a number of beautiful chunky copper buckles and d-rings and thus really wanted to use them in a garment.

The gaslamp fantasy influences from Girl Genius are rather more pronounced in this set of photos, largely due to Kathed's resemblance to Agatha Heterodyne. The urge to have her shout For Science! persisted throughout the shoot.

The Steampunk Dress is not based on any specific outfit's of Agatha's (though perhaps it's something she might wear). It's genesis is rather rooted in a buckle skirt owned by Gracewing that inspired the Designer to draw the Steampunk Skirt. Some sketches later, he arrived at this. The earlier prototype bore the iconic colours of green and brown, but due to the copper buckles, we opted for a slightly different colour scheme.

The Steampunk Dress is made from dark brown faux suede and dark blue wool. It has a number of copper d-rings and buckles and is trimmed with copper-braiding (if we had this to do over, perhaps we can fit more buckles onto the back of the bodice next time). The straps are fully functional and allow for the skirt (and its lining) to be hitched up. The pockets and test tube holders are not as numerous as those on the Steampunk Coat, but can still be handy for the gentlewoman inventor. The shirt is the model's own and the test tubes are courtesy of a free cycle. The clockwork key pendant is secretly a novelty bottle opener on a chain and the goggles are, as always, the beer goggles. Also appearing in the photos are a brass tube of tiny screwdriver heads.

The photos were taken by Durham's Palace Green, specifically by Durham Cathedral and The Pemberton Rooms of Durham University (not quite Transylvania Polygnostic University). The shoot was in the middle of Kathed's extremely busy day of directing Shellshock! (Go see them at the Edinburgh Fringe!), writing a dissertation and arranging a thousand other things. I am more than slightly grateful to Kathed for taking the time out to do these photos between lunch and more rehearsals.

To commission a similar dress from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £120. This pre-made Steampunk Dress, is, however available at the discounted cost of £105 at Character Kit.

More photos of the Steampunk Dress under the cut.