Beserk had a clearance sale recently and I’m a bit of a sucker for wings (yes, I’m such a goff girl) so I thought I’d try this Tera Angel Cheerleader dress. It’s winter now, and about 4 degrees outside, so there’s no way in Hades you’re seeing my skinny, white, goose-pimply legs. It still looks awesome over some tight pants or leggings.

Tera Angel Cheerleader Dress, $39AUS, Beserk Clothing.

Urgh, it’s nigh impossible to get good photographs at the moment, thank you weather. But here are some more bad ones:

I am wearing:

• Tera Angel Cheerleader Dress (Beserk Clothing)
• Black stretch jeans (Glassons)
• Black Military Jacket (Tripp NYC)
• Wedge Boots (Jeffrey Campbell, who else? I was NOT lyring when I said I wear only two pairs of shoes)
• Dragon necklace (gift from husband)
• Skull armwarmers (MTCoffinz – don’t forget there’s 10% off at MTCoffinz till the end of August when you use the discount code STEFFMETAL)
• Celtic cross (from a terrible trendy surf shop in my hometown)
• Big, chunky ass metal ring, (21st gift) and my saxon wedding ring.

The dress is well-made, of a nice cotton / spandex blend, so it’s got a stretch to it without feeling like it’s loosing shape. I like the extra-thick hem, and the way the boatneck collar and the shape of the angel wings make longer necklaces look great. Also, I love the angel design – it looks seriously badass. I will be wanting more Beserk stuff, for sure!

I am quite in love with this jacket, which I think works well with this length of dress. With a dress like this you really want to wear a jacket that’s as-long-as or shorter than the dress itself. The key to layering a dress like this is to make sure the pants you wear underneath don’t have buttons, studs or pockets that make the material bunch and lump.

And because you can’t see it in the pictures, here’s a closeup of the design:

Wicked, aye?

When I find little things to buy online to share on the blog, I try to look for stuff slightly outside what you might expect a goth or metalhead chick to look at. I don’t like wearing the same things as anyone else, even “of my same subculture” anyone else, so I hope you think some of these things are cool too.

And gentlemen readers, don’t fret, this isn’t going to become a regular feature or anything, just something a little different for my weekend posting.

Flying Arrow Ring, $32, oxidised brass, by Brilliance Found.

Brilliance Found is a seriously cool little shop I stumbled upon just yesterday. It’s full of really funky jewelry – mostly rings. My favorites are the oxidised brass Flying Knuckle Ring (pictured), the Filigre Angle Arches ring, the Floating Brass Butterflies, and the Golden Wings series. Priced from $20US, these rings are just right for a little treat.

Gothic Witch Fortune Teller's Table, US$40, from Midnight Dteams

Midnight Dreams is a seriously rad little shop, full of dollhouse miniatures for the aspiring witch, pagan or occultist.  Yes, definitely a niche market, but I think these little vignettes would look wicked displayed on a shelf in your home, even if you weren’t a dollshouse collector. I think they’d be even cooler if you could add a few suitably-dressed Sylvanian Families figurines (oooh, I had that panda family). Check out the Gothic Witch Spell Hutch and the Witch Party Tea Cart.

Alien, US$47 leather journal by Kreative Ink

I am a sucker for a beautiful blank journal, so I’ve already eyed up these beauties from KreativLink for when my current journal runs out. The one in the picture is Alien, but there’s also Magical, Maschinist and Big Twigs. I love how the designs include the handmade, rough-edged paper and the almost cthulhu’esque tentacle-y designs and clasps.

Viking Chains, from EUR$79, From 4Vikings

This weekend we said goodbye to a good friend and old flatmate who’s off to New England to fix radio transmitters. He’d just found these beautiful chains from the Jord Sweden collection. Made especially to fit Thor’s Hammar pendants, I saw

I am not much of a fan of spending oodles of money on wallets and purses and such, since I am rough on them. But I must admit, the slightly steampunky, elegant designs at Urban Heirlooms have been making me think I could totally love a new wallet with a skeleton key for a lock. Don’t you agree?

This Genteel Wallet is colored “blood orange” which sounds like it would be my favorite color, ever, if only I could see color. And looky, it fits that iPhone inside perfectly! For those who need something a bit more hefty, he sells the same design as a messenger bag, as well as some quite unique and masculine leather cuffs.

Blood Orange Genteel Wallet, $55, from Urban Heirlooms

And, for the lass who can’t let go of hair metal, Blackmilk have recently released a collection of animal-print leggings. I never thought I’d see the day when leggings – especially tiger print leggings – would be hip again, but that time is upon us. I’ve long been debating a pair of their silver spartans or the ecclesiastical Cathedral leggings, but now I’m wondering if I should go straight for the snake print.

Snake, US$60, from Blackmilk Clothing

I have been seeing a lot of acrylic jewelry around lately, and of all the designers I’ve seen, I’m particularly taken with Untamed Menagerie. They cross naturalism with a clear love of the slightly odd. That’s just my kind of thing :) From the skeletony Thoracic, to the inkdrop-inspired Pseudoscience to these cute Nocturnal bat studs, I think pretty much any metal chick would find something to appeal in Untamed Menagerie.

Thoracic, US$18, by Untamed Menagerie

Yours with a “Happy Shopping” smile and a “Save Your Money For Wacken” frown.

I own a couple of pairs of armwarmers already, but was never a big fan because they didn’t seem to help much in the warming department – I am skinny and get super cold, even in the tropical paradise that is New Zealand :) But MTCoffinz arm warmers are made of this super snuggly warm fleece, and my hands have been so happy on the frigid cold mornings over the last couple of weeks.

Steff loves her MT Coffinz armwarmers

I also like that they’re not gloves, so my fingers are free to tie my bootlaces, write in my diary, paint, and generally potter about.

To go with the red skulls, I’m wearing this skull top I brought from somewhere on Marketstrasse in Hamburg, a red dress from Smoove, my spider socks, Jeffrey Campbell wedge boots, and the cartouche necklace CDH brought me in Egypt.

Rings galore!

Since I knew I’d be taking pictures of my hands, I dug out some rings. You can see the strange ring of an African man’s head I found at a garage sale 10 years ago, a massive square of metal (a twenty first present from an uncle – he has great taste), a super thick men’s steel ring from one of my BFF’s and my wedding ring – which is modelled from an Anglo-Saxon ring found in a tomb.

The skull embroidery works well because it takes a someone a couple of looks to actually see the skull – at first it just looks like a nice design .. but then, hello Mr skull! I’ve been wearing them non-stop all winter.

More armwarmer goodness:

On my way to a party and a gig

Another Maiden shirt – from the first time I saw them, at Earl’s Court in London. The back says “I spent Christmas with Eddie at Earl’s Court”.

Off to see Sweeney Todd

Here they are just peeking out from under my Tripp NYC jacket.

Red dress from Gallery Serpentine

Now, in case you’re wondering what else you might be able to procure to go along with your arm warmers, MTCoffinz sell a variety of tutu skirts, gothic ballgown skirts, corsets, hairfalls and hair accessories. You can get the gear from three locations – MTCoffinz official website, or either of their two Etsy shops: the main etsy shop – MTCoffinz – is alternative gear and MTCoffinzUnderground is the more gothic, dark grear.

Trashy Green Monster Tutu

Gothic wedding / formal skirt

Alice in Wonderland inspired hairpiece

Now, remember that surprise I told you about. Jinx at MTCoffinz has kindly offered a special discount to Steffmetal readers – if you buy anything from MTCoffinz between now and August 31st (giving you a whole two months to choose something) and you enter the promo code STEFFMETAL at the checkout on the main website, or in “note to seller” field on Etsy, you will get 10% off your order.

(If you’re purchase through the main website, your discount will de deducted from your order on the spot, However, because of the way Etsy works, what will happen is that you will be charged the full amount, and then Jinx will refund you this discount.)

So if you need a mid-summer (or winter if you’re in my corner of the world) pick-me-up, or you have a friend in need of a birthday present, or you want to get a head start on your christmas shopping, I’d pop over to MTCoffinz and have a look.

Yours – the number 1 fan of skull-related fashion

Elena Bathory

First, for a bit of background, can you tell us about how you got started as a model?

I have always wanted to be a model since I was a kid. As I got older I relaized I wasn’t a candidate for the typical model. I started getting into the alternative scene and came across some modeling pages on myspace for alternative models. I got so excited and started planning out a shoot right away.

You’ve worked with some pretty big bands – Dark Funeral, Skeletonwitch, Verkrag – can you tell us how you managed to hook that up? What’s it like working with bands?

Well, with Dark Funeral I was one of two winners of a merchandise modeling contest for the band. I also won the Devian metal model contest. With Verkrag, Anton, the man behind Verkrag, contacted me on myspace to be a part of his “13 victims” project. I started with Skeletonwitch just by asking them if they would like me to model their merch. I actually was supposed to work with them last year when they shot a music video at this metal bar here in Brooklyn. They had wanted a girl to dance on the bar during their performance and someone contacted me from the bar to do it but I had to work that day. So, I was glad I was eventually able to work with them after missing that opportunity.
It’s great working with bands! I love supporting the metal scene and the bands.

What have been some of your favorite modeling jobs / shoots?

Some of my fave modeling shoots are horror shoots. I love getting all bloody and posing with sharp objects lol. When I shoot horror I can become a completely different person. I can be a psycho killer or a helpless victim. It’s really fun! My fave modeling job of recently has been a beach shoot for an alternative clothing designer, Isabelle Batz, new swimsuit line. It was a chilly day but I had fun and it was exciting.

Do you have any modeling horror-stories?

Hmmm well once I did a rooftop shoot with this photographer who kept talking about how much of a sex addict he was and just talking about things that were inapropriate. As if that would impress me or something lol.

Elena Bathory

How do you think TV shows like America’s Next Top Model have helped, or hindered the modeling industry, in particular the alternative modeling industry?

I think it has helped the modeling industry in a way. That show gave ordinary girls a chance to become actual models, which I think is cool. I just think they should have a similar show for alternative models. They probably will when I’m too old and wrinkly to participate lol.

You shoot nude shots for conceptual art. Can you tell us how you got into that? How do potential clients react to you nude shots? What, in your opinion, separates artwork featuring nude women from pornography?

I got into it very early in my modeling career. My work was seen by a fetish art photographer who wanted to include me in his upcoming book. At that shoot I also shot with another photographer who included me in his book as well. They are called “upskirts, and panties, and girls, oh my” by LC Misfit studios and “Rebound” by David Lawrence, in case anyone wants to check that out;)

Potential clients react well to my nude shots. They see that I am open minded and comfortable with my body and photographers enjoy working with models who are confident about themselves.

What seperates artwork featuring nude women from pornography is, artwork explores the beauty of the naked body and pornography focuses on the act of sex.

You now model full-time. That’s a dream-come-true for many models. Can you tell us how you’ve managed to get to this point?

I don’t really model full time. It’s not like I’m travelling the world and shooting everyday. I would love to travel to places like the UK and do runway shows and stuff. That’s when you know you’re a hugely successful alternative model, when you’ve got jobs on the other side of the world and appearing on the cover of alternative magazines. Hopefully I am on my way there! I have good months and bad months with work. I am working on my own website so hopefully once that’s up I will be noticed more and offered more jobs.

You’ve also recently launched your own clothing line “Metal Vixen Threads”. Tell us a little about how “Metal Vixen Threads” started and what you’ll be doing with the line in future?

I started MVT of October of last year. I just wanted to create a casual line especially made for metal girls that they can wear at concerts or wherever else they want to show off with pride that they are a metal chick. I just added some mens t-shirts too.

Elena

I love your clothing line because I don’t think there’s enough casual fashion out there specifically for metal chicks. Goth chicks yes. Punk chicks, yes. But not metal chicks. Any thoughts on why this is?

They are out there, my line is more casual and laid back than those out there.

As an “alternative” model, you probably deal with some negative reactions when you tell people what you do. How do you cope with doing something for a career many people consider “vulgar” or “satanic” or “weird”?

I really don’t care if others see what I do in that way. If they find it weird or whatever then that just shows me that they are not open minded and can’t appreciate art in all forms.

What advice would you give to anyone else wanting to become a metal model?

Get yourself noticed by bands. Work with as many bands as you can to get noticed.

What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you because of modelling?

The best thing that’s ever happened is making new friends with cool people who support me and my work. I wouldn’t be where I am now without the people I have met along the way.

What is the next step for Elena Bathory?

The next step is my membership website;p There you will be able to see exclusive photos and sets not seen anywhere else plus videos of photo shoots and more. There, fans can also purchase posters and other Elena Bathory merchandise. I will also be working with more metal bands and appearing on a few album covers. I will also be appearing in an upcoming issue of Bizarre magazine as an ultra vixen and some of my photos will be featured in Girls and corpses magazine next month.

What was the first album you ever brought? Your first metal album?

Slayer’s Hell Awaits!

Can you name your top five metal albums?

Hard to narrow it to just five. Hell awaits, Black album, The somberlain, Chaos A.D., Iowa

What bands and albums have you heard recently that have stood out to you?

One band that I can really say have greatly caught my interest is Skeletonwitch. Their new album Breathing the fire is awesome! I have done merch work for them and will be doing more soon:)Another band that I have done merch work for that the music has stood out to me is Wrath Passion. A great Norwegian black metal band. The new Deftones album is good too.

What was your best ever live music experience?

Iron Maiden a few years ago at Madison square garden. I was really far from the stage but it was still awesome!

Who or what inspires you?

Metal inspires me a lot as well as horror movies. As for a person, I really like the alternative model Masumi Max. My fans also inspire me. They make me want to be the best I can so I can give them the best.

Thank you Elena for stopping by to answer some questions. It’s always great seeing metal chicks rocking their own thing. You can find out more about Elena Bathory by becoming her fan on facebook, checking out Elena’s model mayhem page, her Elena Bathory Myspace page, or keeping an eye on her up-and-coming website:

Peace, Love, and Fucking Metal

CDH and I, are not most NZers, so we went to a toy fair.

It was actually a rather impressive toy / model fair – an events centre filled with triumphs of engineering like this:

WW II Dioramas

And this:

Amazing bonsai from the Auckland Chinese Bonsai Society

And this:

Mechano dragon. And it totally moved!

As well as some awesome personalities, like this man.

A delightful mechano modeller

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good photo of the amazing dollhouses. But one women had made a Halloween dollhouse with a skeleton and spider sharing a bath. Another had created a steampunk clockmaker’s workshop, not altogether dissimiliar to my “Clockmaker’s Wife” painting. CDH’s favorite was a dollhouse bakery, complete with cabinets of exquisitely sculpted donuts and mince pies.

After the fair we went to visit a train-friend of CDH’s, who told us he’d be running “mini-trains” on his property over the weekend. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it sure wasn’t this!

Mini steam trains!

Old train geeks helping each other out

These remarkable engines are scratch-built by their owners, and take some 1200 hours to complete. James’ train-friend had been working on one for 13 years, and reckoned it would take him another 13 to finish. Some we distal engines, powered by little two-stroke motors. But the stars were the steam engines: miniature replicas of their full-scale buddies, and able to pull three carriages of people around the garden trail.

around the corner ...

... wave to the people

At $2 a ride, I couldn’t just watch. So on we hopped, around the garden, waving at all the passing trains!

Little train!

We had to duck to fit through the tunnel.

Tunnel!

This clever fellow scratch-built this working tracktion engine, which he drove through the crowds trying to direct people towards the sausage sizzle (not that we need much direction when sausages are involved).

Traction Engine

so cute!

And, lastly, to make this post slightly relate to the topic of my blog, here’s what I wore:

• While lace blouse, Shanton
• Red Lolita dress, Gallery Serpentine
• Blue slip, Farmers
• Military-style jacket, Tripp NYC
• Spider thigh-high socks
• Jeffrey Campbell wedge boots
• Celtic cross necklace, a shop in my hometown (Waipukarau represent!) called Street Scene.

This gorgeous Lolita dress is made from a very soft velvet. Velvet can be difficult to wear as it can look a bit try-hard witchy-poo, especially if it’s crushed. And velvet behaves in strange ways. I have a black velvet 3/4 sleeve top with scraggly sleeves that literally rolls up as I wear it.

But this super-soft dress behaves exactly the way you ask it. When I brought it I didn’t realize quite how short it actually was, so I tend to only wear it over a slip, or as a pinafore over pants.

Apologies for another “here is what I did this weekend” post. I’ll be getting back to the real, meaty content next week.

Death, Lust and Puddling Crust.

I realised I haven’t been taking many photos with my vast (it’s VAST) collection of metal shirts, so now I will.

I am wearing:

Iron Maiden shirt from their “Somewhere Back in Time” tour – the first Australian leg. CDH and his brother and I went to the Sydney show and – as per normal with Maiden, who I’ve seen three times – it was quite a night. Terrible, terrible opening bands, but Bruce and crew more than made up for it. “Fear of the Dark” and “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” still give me shivers. This shirt is not actually black, but a very dark blue (at least, that’s what I’ve been told).

Black slip – second-hand from a cousin

Blue (I think) satin chemise (nightie or slip). A gift from my mum, probably ten years ago now. Worn under skirt so it’s not too see-through.

Black tights – gift from Mother-in-Law.

Red jacket – H&M Oslo (you may be thinking – why go to Oslo and shop at H&M? Well, we don’t HAVE H&M here and I LOVE it. Also, I went to Anti-Sweden, but the jeans looked terrible on me. I wish I’d brought one of their t-shirts, though.

Jeffrey Campbell wedge boots

Dragon necklace – present from CDH (the first piece of jewelry ever brought for me by a boy).

This is the sort of thing I wear to work. They’re pretty cruisy about dress code since we’re only in an office keeping each other company.k

I’m rather gutted because I was going to show you the AMAZING leather raven hair barrette I got from Wing and Talon Leatherworks, but I was running to get to the conference over the weekend, and it fell out of my hair and I didn’t notice and it’s fallen on the street somewhere and is LOST FOREVER. Major sad face. I hadn’t even got the chance to photograph it yet. So, if you were wondering – it is amazing, looks wicked, has WAY more detail than you can see in the picture, and I would have worn it forever had it not have fallen out and got lost :(

I’m a big fan of layering metal tee shirts over skirts or dresses like this – you look a little feminine while wearing these boxy shirts. Until they start making more flattering women’s metal shirts with better pictures on them, I’m sticking with mens shirts, thank you.

Folk Metal Week would not be complete without an exploration of Folk Metal Fashion. So without further ado, I present you the Haute Couture of folk metal fashion.

Basically, the idea of folk metal fashion to choose a folk culture that interests you and is considered suitably “metal”, research their cultural traditions, discard everything that isn’t “grymm”, then bastardise what remains into a hustorically-inaccurate mashup of arcane symbolism and dragon t-shirts.

Clothing

Now, any aspiring folk metaller – be they lad or lass – has two choices for their folk-metal persona. They can either follow the path of the folk musician, or follow the path of the re-enactor.

If you want to go for the first option, you take fashion cues from these fine fellows:

Ian Anderson at the Isle of Wight festival, wearing some kind of dressing gown

Don't they look swell?

Irish folk band Altan

You need a black suit, a dressing gown, and some kind of weird instrument. I don’t think it’s necessary to know how to play said instrument.

Alternatively, you can go the way most metalheads go, and look like this:

Grymm

Your first step is to find a folk tradition to embrace. Look to your own country’s folk traditions for inspiration. If you’re not from Europe, this is not a problem. I’ve yet to see any Mongol or Maori-inspired folk metallers, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

If you don’t have a folk tradition, or your folk tradition sucks, start researching Vikings.

(Or Celts, or Germanic tribes. Or Mongols. But Vikings are sooo “in” right now)

Go to the library and check out books with lots of pictures. Look on Wikipedia – the source of all truth and knowledge. Find websites dedicated to folk cultures and study up on their traditions and beliefs.

I can hear you all groaning from here. Research? For fashion? She’s crazy. But hear me out, if you want to dress like a folk metaller, you have to obtain at least a passing knowledge of traditional folk cultures. Lots of metalheads are extremely into this stuff and will require you to defend your choice of getup with references to archaeological finds and contemporary texts. Or challenge you to a drinking bout. Either way, it’s best to be prepared.

Once you’ve completed your preliminary research, you need to source some basic wardrobe. Choose natural fabrics – wool, leather and fur – to protect against those harsh barbarian winters. First, a pair of trousers: your staple basic black jeans or pants will suffice, or you can go even further and find a historically-accurate pair of leather or wool pantaloons that close with a drawstring rope. Layer these monstrosities with a pair of epic boots – leather, of course, and a suitably period tunic, shirt, or vest. Or just go bare-chested with tribal tattoos – it works for the dude in the photo.

The woollen cape or cloak is preferrable to any kind of jacket, and gives a certain dramatic flourish to the folk metal outfit. I must stress that this cloak should be made of thick wool and double as a blanket – a lot of shops sell these cheap polyester blend capes. Wear one of those on a windy day and tell me you don’t want to fork over the extra money for wool.

Ladies either don their own pantaloons and boots, or find themselves a barbarian dress. You can buy these at any good medieval store or market, or though any of the multitude of online shops. While a black dress is always better, folk metal welcomes to use of other dark colours, so red, green, brown or blue dresses or accents work too.

If you wish to venture out in folk metal garb during the summer months, you could chose a lighter cotton shirt. And metal men, folk metal is the only metal genre with which you can get away with wearing a skirt, as long as it looks like this:

CDH rockin' his Wacken kilt.

“Ah, but Steff” I hear you ask, “How do I hold up my epic viking pants or kilt of doom?” Well, friends, you will probably need to invest in a suitably viking or folk-looking belt. Like this:

Viking Belt from Jell Dragon

or this:

Hair

For men, hair is worn long and unkempt. Beards are thick and bushy and often plaited with wool and beads.

For women, hair is worn long and unkempt. Beards are optional (but not uncommon).

Accessories

Accessories should be leather, horn, bone or metal, preferrably handmade and hand-forged by trollish re-enactors. Try to find accurate representations of actual archaological finds – one of the best places to find amulets, Thor’s hammers, replica coins and Gallic broaches is actually museum stores – I brought a gorgeous Anglo-Saxon replica coin (a cast of one found on the premises) from the Ashmolean Museum shop in Oxford for £1.50.

Replica Thor's Hammer pendant - original found in Romersdal on the island of Bornholm (www.wulflund.com)

Hair accessories for ladies can really complete an outfit. Again – find pieces made from natural materials and utelising traditional crafts. I recently brought myself one of these:

Raven barrette, $25US, from WInged Talon. This is so much more detailed in real like.

No folk metal outfit would be complete without the requisite drinking horn. You can buy these horns online, or from any store at a metal or medieval market, like Wacken:

Wacken drinking horns

For the complete drinking horn experience, you will also need a leather pouch to attach your horn to your belt, and a fold-away iron stand that allows you to set down your horn on the ground (tables are far too civilised) without upsetting the liquid within.

To call forth your fellow Vikings, Mongols, Saxons or Gauls, you need a summoning horn (I made that name up). You must practise the summoning horn for many hours, because when it is played by the untrained summoner it sounds like an elephant farting.

Weaponry

Folk metallers – like the LARPers of which they are so often confused – often carry weaponry suitable to their specific folk tradition.

Generally this practise is frowned upon because – a. It looks too try-hard, b. Weapons and drunk metalheads do not a sensible mix make and c. 98% of people don’t know how to correctly and safely use a weapon, and the ensuring looks of disdain from the people who actually look at historical martial arts as a serious academic discipline could melt stone.

Since some people have asked, I use a two-handed German longsword, using Talhoffer’s manual, and I made my own sword belt. I don’t fight in tournaments because I believe the rules imposed to make the tournaments “safe” (no head hits, etc) altar the style of fighting to the point when you’re no longer fighting in a recognisable historical style. We take a very academic approach to european martial arts – one day a week we all sit round with the manual, translate the text and study the pictures to figure out what is actually being shown. One day a week we fight. One day a week we do wrestling – since a good sword fight will always end with a wrestle :)

If you’re not a fighter, your probably a minstrel, so be sure to carry some kind of unqiue folk instrument everywhere you go (tin whistle players, represent!). You don’t have to play this instrument – simply the threat of playing it earns you folk metal scene points.

Style Icons

Eluveitie

turisas

Finntroll

Ensiferum

Korpiklaani

Plunder

Wulflund: My absolute favorite online shop for quality armor, swords, and pagan jewelry. It’s run by a metalhead called Milan – the coolest dude from the Czech Republic – and we brought the swords, broach pins and my Thor’s Hammer from there.

Jell Dragon: another shop for all your Viking and Saxon needs.

Winged Talon: Leather hair accessories.

Batwings and Battleaxes: “Viking” metal wrist cuffs

What do you wear when you want to look suitably “folkish?” What folk traditions particularly speak to you?
Raise your horns! \m/
Steff Metal

Black vintage leather jacket

Red trashy Diva dress

Meet Diya – she writes In Her Stilettos – a fashion blog heavy on studs, spikes, leather, and short skirts. She works in the metal music industry on the side, and her boyfriend’s a musician. In short, she’s pretty krieg.

So when she emailed me to ask if I’d do a guest post, of course I said yes. Unfortunatly, I had so much to say on the topic she asked me to write about, I spent two months writing this mammoth 5000 word essay, which I then had to whittle down to a more readable 900 words.

If you would be so kind, pop over to In Her Stilettos and read my guest post Rockstars and Metal Gods as Fashion Icons.

See? We did actually hijack a train.

CDH and I and 20 of our closest friends spent the day at Glenbrook Vintage Railway. Now, this may not sound exciting, but with 20 metalheads, anything can … and does … become automatically awesome.

I decided I wanted a steampunk-themed birthday party, to celebrate finishing (and possibly selling) my steampunk novel this year. As you all know, metalheads love to dress up, so the idea of pulling out the corsets and crinolines and bustles and fantasy goggles appealed to all our friends, who put serious effort into their costumes for the day.

Amy and Kelli rocking their handmade steampunk outfits

Amy and Kelly came around to our place earlier to get dressed. They made their steampunk outfits themselves, and had raided the local antique shops for their hats and watches and telescopes.

Gallery Serpentine corset

I'm on a train! (it's cooler than being on a boat)

I wore:

• black tulle skirt, $4 from second-hand shop
• black ruffled shirt, from Smoove, a present from friends for my last birthday
• Forest green corset, from Gallery Serpentine
• Pandora beads, including cute new Pumpkin bead from Jessocles and JP for my birthday
• Top hat, from Camden markets – with Essex badge and cameo broch on it.
• fingerless gloves, Glassons
• chainmail spike bracelet, gift from BFF linley from the US
• Leonardo de Vinci socks, from Sock Dreams (gift from parents – who rock!)
• Jeffrey Campbell boots (another gift from parents – who doubly rock!)
• studded SDP belt (from somewhere in Aus), Skull and crossbones belt (Supre, of all places!), eyelet clip thing from bondage pants, chains (from Glassons, years ago!), leather pouch from a pair of binoculars

Iris and Steff

Iris looked beautiful, as usual, and had her goggles made by a friend who creates movie props. They looked amazing.

Kelli, Aaron and Amy

Aaron looked like a dapper genteel serial killer. He made his glasses himself, including the laser sight.

You rang?

Liz in her steampunk costume

Liz had another awesome costume – she made her goggles and watch herself, and found her jewellry and her wicked camera (you cn just see it behind her arm) at an antique store.

Tarah and Tim in steampunk costume (beautiful photo by Ryan Fogarty)

Tarah – who I think must be one of the most beautiful ladies in the world - and Tim, looking quite dapper for a drummer.

Levi's got me!

CDH - the "running wild fan"

CDH came dressed as “a Running Wild fan”. He prefers to stand behind the camera.

Help!

If you want to have a similiar birthday, these tiny vintage railways exist all over the world. They’re usually run by volunteers and are quite inexpensive to visit. We chartered a carriage for the entire day for $250, which split between 20 people, turned out to be about $12 each, plus $1 extra for a jigger ride. The railway put some trestle tables in the carriage for us and we each brought a plate of food and drink to share.

Horns Up! \m/

We had heaps of fun taking crazy photos on and off the trains. The Glenbrook railway stops at the maintenance sheds for 10 minutes each trip, so we had several stationary trains to climb over as well. The other visitors kept stopping us for photos – and the volunteers thought us great fun.

So long! Do forget to write!

I’m going to have to think of something extra-awesome for next year to top this. Any ideas?

Steam up!
Steff

Ah, anime, is there anything you can't teach us?

This post deals with the second half of a question I recieved last week, about dealing with being a metalhead at high school. I wanted to deal with the topic of school uniforms seperately, so we could have some fun without belittling the first part of this reader’s question, which is something quite near to many of our hearts.

As a teenager at high school, this reader wanted to know how to look “metal” while still obeying the school’s uniform policy.

We metalheads do love to look the part and I’m the first to admit I devote more time than perhaps necessary to sourcing the perfect metal fashion and accessories. It’s fun, it fosters community spirit, expresses my deep, unending love for all things metal, and supports other independent, subculture designers, so it is all good.

Except if you’re at high school, and your school has a uniform or a dress standard that forbids Slayer shirts and pentagram necklaces. What’s a teenaged metalhead to do?

You can’t do anything about the uniform. Well, you can write angry letters to the school board about the lack of ability to express yourself and the high cost of uniforms for low-income families and the anachronism of uniforms in the modern world, and you might get somewhere, but chances are, the school wants a uniform, and with a uniform it shall stay.

And yes, I was a student who wrote letters to the board about the anachronism of uniforms in the modern world, and I believe I did indeed use the word “anachronism” and possibly the word “post-modernism” and it got me nowhere, although the principal did enjoy my letter.

You could flout the rules totally and show up in your favorite band shirt and leathers – but you might get expelled, which is totally metal but might make it difficult for you to get a job.

You have to think of uniform policies as less of a set of “rules” and more of a challenge in lateral thinking.  The teachers enforce these rules in order to get you to think of ingenius ways of flouting them without getting caught. It’s a mental challenge to you, and also an exciting game for them: teacher’s collect confiscated items like trophies – and the more interesting the items, the more “teacher scene” points they get from their colleagues. These are cultural rituals important to every teenager’s experience of high school, and should be regarded with spiritual devotion.

Who's gonna confiscate her accessories?

Despite my own high school’s strict policy regarding accessories, every student wore their own “bling”. We kept it understated, so we couldn’t get pulled up for it, but a statement we did make. The Christians wore crucifixes, the Hip-Hoppers wore hundreds of rings on their fingers, the popular girls wore necklaces from their boyfriends, the cute girls decided to forgo the generic blue and gold school scarf for soft, fluffy pink ones. My BFF Shane wore a monkey t-shirt under his white shirt and a bead necklace, my other friend Amy wore a pentagram necklace which caused her no end of grief, another friend wore a spiked dog collar under her shirt. Everyone had more piercings than the alotted 1 per earlobe.

And sure, this stuff got confiscated regularly. But you could always get it back, after the teachers had bragged about their catch and earnt their scene points, of course. Plus, you’re rebelling against the system, which is all kinds of metal.

If you have to wear a necktie, find one in your school colour with a screenprinted design. I love the steampunk and skull designs from Rok Gear. You probably won’t get away with wearing this tie for long, but you never know.

Steampunk Skull necktie, $25, from Rok Gear

Hats! You need a hat to keep the sun off, right? Some schools issue those horrid baseball caps with the school logo, but who’s going to notice if you wear something different, eh? I am a particular fan of anything procured from an army surplas store (although maybe stay away from the pith helmets. A little conspicuous).

Necklaces can be worn by guys and gals. I find anything on a leather thong looks great tucked under the collar of a white shirt – Thor’s hammers, occult symbols, even Wacken dog tags. Try to keep jewellery to only one statement piece: if you’re wearing a metal necklace, put plain studs in your ears. If you have a spike through your nose, don’t wear any other jewellery. You don’t want to overdo it!

Metal wristbands

At my high school it was a mark of honour among certain groups to wear the wristbands from a New Zealand Christian music festival for months or years after the festival took place. Having never been to said festival, I can’t comment on whether it warrented such elite treatment (it could have been awesome. I don’t know). But if you’ve been to any metal fastivals, consider keeping the wristbands on year round as a sign of your kvltness.

The other oft-forgotten totem of individuality at high school is the school bag. I’ve never heard of a school placing rules on the colour and style of school bags allowed, so metal yours up with spikes and studs and band patches. Throw it in the dirt so it looks all old and scungy. If you don’t want a backpack, opt for a messenger bag or army-surplas store utility belt instead.

Carry your essentials in pencil cases made from army ration tins, PVC and spikes, coffin-shaped purses, Viking-style leather pouches and remnants of old metal shirts.

Hair – wear it down, wear it long. Keep a hairtie around your wrist in case you’re told to tie it back, but pull it out again later. You can’t practise

Go all-out on mufti days. Seriously, go crazy. You have nothing to loose, save your dignity, and you’re a metalhead, so you don’t give a fuck about that.

Remember that above all, metal is an attitude, not a fashion trend. If you are metal, you will look metal, no matter what you wear.

Horns up! \m/
Steff Metal