Bio Hazard Accessories

Guess what? Bio hazard symbol... tote bag... bound to happen with me.

Made a tote bag just for us cyber goths and cyberpunks :)
It's up on the shop now.

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 3The Modern Cyberpunk

I'm going to put here that this has all been from my perspective and what I've seen over the years as I've been around for the entire cyberpunk movement (though a little too young in the very beginning to  understand it. By the mid 80's though, I was able to really appreciate it) and it's influence from a fashion standpoint.

At some point cyber goth and cyberpunk started blending together. Cyber goth started it's rise in the late part of the 90's and of all the influences it draws from, I think cyberpunk is the most important.

Cyberpunk really can cross between cyber goth and even a bit industrial as industrial took some significant changes in the late 90's through the first part of the 2000's too.

Since technology has exploded, and things we didn't think we'd see for many, many more years (at least a century on some of it) it really redefines cyberpunk.

When the cyberpunk books were written in the 80's, and the original cyberpunk role playing games in the 90's, we've actually reached part of their future. Some of the fantastic technology is here, some... not so much. But we don't have the world we thought we would have (a lot thought we'd have a one world government, some utopian, some distopian, we might be working towards the distopian). However, I have a tablet computer... and that is SO Star Trek, so...

Our world is smaller, our cultures are more in contact with each other, and a bit more understanding is happening ( a bit too slowly actually. But it does have a bit of a William Gibson feel to it. We are still divided in culture, but closer now than ever before). But what is the modern cyberpunk style?

I'm trying to figure that out. Cyberpunk has had 30 years to collect influence and exert influence.  And you can see that simply by Googleing cyberpunk clothing. I think this picture said a little bit about the confusion.

This corset came up in a search for cyberpunk clothing. It's also tagged emo by the way.

I wouldn't even call that cyber goth. It's goth. It screams goth (and it's beautiful. But really, cyberpunk?). And lolita, but we're not even going to go there.

But it speaks to the sort of searching we're doing for the style of cyberpunk now. Online retailers will purposefully muddle the fashion. Why? Because we can. I personally try to stay away from such things and tag correctly.

Some online sellers have no clue when they use the keyword cyberpunk. Either misinformed or just no real education in the style. Some do it just to get views and hope some uninformed wannabe buys it.

I'm wondering where we are heading though. Are we remaining with the more minimalist style that evolved from the original and the millennium or going back to the more post apocalyptic style from the 90's? Actually, I think it's more going minimalist.





This corset has the feel that I think is far more cyberpunk. It captures the minimalist feel, and the strappy feel... and frankly corsets are fussy, this one isn't fussy.

But there's a lack of cyberpunk style movies lately. It's been a long time since I've seen anything with a cyberpunk feel. So really, what modern cyberpunk is going to look like can change.

As much as we don't want to admit it, movies set the trend for fashion, in even the alternative world.

Right now it's kind of safe to say cyberpunk and cyber goth are both heading the same direction. Cyberpunk keeping a bit of a dark, minimalist feel (slightly goth), cyber goth the same thing. The big difference is cyber goth is more music driven, cyberpunk is more lifestyle driven. Not that cyber goth isn't a life style

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 3 The Matrix And The Millennium

Y2k had it's impact on the cyberpunk movement too. Only it became a the machines will fail us/enslave us type of mentality.
The Terminator movies probably influenced the Matrix movies more than cyberpunk did. But the style of the Matrix (clothing wise and the anti establishment message) did faithfully represent the origin of cyberpunk from the 80's.

It almost seems in all the OMG! RISE OF THE MACHINES! Y2K! OMG!OMG!OMG! of the millennium the whole cyberpunk message really did get lost. I think the first part of this millennium was really a low spot for cyberpunk and it's now starting to re-emerge.

The funny part of the first part of the millennium is that technology was starting to explode. Computers were really starting to become a true part of our culture and lives. They were more accessible. Pagers had reached it's high point and we're phasing out to the new technology of cell phones (did you know around 1999 and 2000 if you had told us that we'd be able to surf the web, get email, all from our phone and anywhere in the world, we'd have laughed at you and said not for a long, long time), let alone hook our lap tops (yes, we had those) to our phones wirelessly for an internet connection (that is most of the time faster than my DSL at home).
Technology was about to explode. But those first few years mainstream society was rebelling against machines. Machines... were evil.

So things like the Matrix was the only things we had to show cyberpunk. It was rather bleak and as a country, at least the United States was a little too caught up in it's misery to see what else was going on.

By the way, at Y2k, (New Years Eve 1999) hubby and I waited ALL day for the end of the world. The machines didn't fail us.

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 2 (The Cyberpunk of the 90’s)

Personally, my favorite is the cyberpunk of the 90’s (I got news for you Tumblr kids. I was in college in the 90’s, I’ve been around for the entire cyberpunk movement). The photo above was taken in the 90’s and is pretty representative of the look of cyberpunk of that time.

To me, the 90’s were something like the 60’s to my parents’ generation. It was a time of a lot of social change. We knew it too. Where as the our parents were trying to silence self expression and imposing morals on the youth (which they’re still doing) they young people rebelled. The 90’s were ALL about anti establishment. Cyberpunk became more post apocalyptic but with technology rather than without.
Plus the explosion of computers into mainstream life mixing with the gritty grungy world… it was a cocktail of the now classic phrase, high tech low life. Cyberpunk was still about life on the fringes, but more dirty and rough… with computers! (And hackers)

And still, there was some mix from the 80’s that really did help hasten in the cyberpunk of the 90’s. Anyone who’s old enough will remember Max Headroom. Iconic of the 80’s, forgotten now :( Max Headroom was really a good precursor to the cyberpunk of the 90’s in a low res sort of way.
One of my favorites, and yes I will admit to it, is Tek Wars (The actual series) as the whole thing was so very cyberpunk, if a little cheesy, as was the movie hackers.

Those mentioned above took the gritty world that was influenced by grunge and married it with computers. Much like the original cyberpunk but the style was less polished, and the theme… fighting against the establishment (a very restrictive government that tried to control every aspect of our life). The fashion took tattered, torn, and brightly colored and combined it with gadgets! The point was to look like you’d scavenged your wardrobe from hand me downs and discarded (machinery and clothes).

A Look Back At How Cyberpunk Evolved Part 1

(I'm reposting from Tumblr (hence why it's kind of short and in parts), but I said you'd get some loving today, I meant it. I have decided to look at cyberpunk as a fashion. There's going to be an interesting conclusion to all this I think. Of course, comment, please, I'd love to hear some opinions on this.)


First… let’s define cyberpunk as a style/fashion.
No one can actually really agree on this. The very early 80’s is when the word was born, and thus the basic concepts.
The 90’s were pretty influential on defining the cyberpunk fashion. In the 80’s movies like Mad Max and Tank Girl in the 90’s as well as the grunge movement, kind of took the style of cyberpunk to a more post apocalyptic feel.
Then millennium came along with movies like the Matrix and influenced the style into more of a fight the machine style.
Though the Matrix could be looked on as anti establishment, but instead of government control, machines rule the world, and the fight is against the machine.
But really, in the beginning, the concept was a very dirty future where computers and humans came together.
The Matrix is a movie that in my opinion doesn’t fit cyberpunk at all. Cyberpunk was about integrating technology into the human world and learning to work with it, The Matrix was about getting rid of technology that’s ruling our lives.
Cyberpunk is more like the detective novels from the 40’s, the Matrix isn’t. They both, however, are anti establishment.
Those who follow the cyberpunk that authors like William Gibson brought to us in the early 80’s have a grittier point of view. Cyberpunks move around a bit in society, but cyberpunks tend to scrape for a living and don’t have the latest fashion.