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
