Men's Second Style

If you haven’t yet visited designer Posy Trudeau’s airship-themed shopping collaboration, Plunder, you’re missing out.  Suspended high above Second Life by lighter-than-air ships, Plunder is an oasis of wood and metal, shopping and relaxation.  In addition to Posy’s own shop Civvies, Zabitan Assia’s FORM, Dragontat Zagato’s Desert Moon Clothiers and others, you’ll find the Cloudbuster Cantina, where you can take a break and quench your thirst.  When Posy was telling me about her new steampunk designs, she mentioned that she had discovered steampunk while researching airship designs for the Plunder build.  Fascinated and creatively challenged, she’s taken that discovery and with it run headlong into that rich alternate Victorian era to create her new collection of steampunk gear: the Steampunk Coat, Steampunk Hat and Steampunk Boots you see me wearing here.

The Steampunk Hat (L$100) is a classic top hat, solidly banged together from old metal plates and secured with rivets to save it from collapse.  Three steam pressure gauges are mounted on the front brim, “found” functional objects converted to the art of fashion by creative design.  The hat is available in large and small sizes, for larger and smaller avatars.

Like the hat, Posy’s Steampunk Boots (L$300) are built from grungy  metal, with rivets along the top and fastening down  the straps that bind the boots together.  The fires of Industry burn brightly inside the toes, behind protective metal grates (don’t touch, it’s hot!), and puffs of steam billow from the side exhaust pipes.  No pressure gauges here, but the construction seems safe enough…I hope!  The boots are available in large and small sizes.

The Steampunk Coat (L$500) is shown here in Brown but also comes in Black, Red and Tan.  Each set includes a coat top (worn on the jacket layer), a shirt-layer clothing piece that provides some bagginess, prim collar and cuffs, and a flexiprim coat bottom with belt.  The fabric is textured to look like heavy wool, and the double row of shiny brass buttons enhances the coat’s long lines. 

The oversize cuffs and high collar lend a subtle formality.  The belt (part of the coat bottom) contrasts nicely with the strong vertical rows of buttons that run from top to bottom.

The coat bottom is made up of several separate but overlapping flexiprims that run vertically and combine almost seamlessly to make the coat’s long, pleated skirt.  The coat falls to the ankle, with great drape and sway as you move.  It’s fair to observe that men often get short shrift when it comes to dramatic clothing–after all, women get all the flexi skirts–but coats like this go a long way toward bridging the gap. 

The coat can also be worn as a jacket, without the prim coat bottom.  Although perhaps a bit less dramatic, I think the jacket on its own makes for quite a dashing figure.  Like the other items, the Steampunk Coat is available in large and small sizes, for larger and smaller avatars.

You’ll need to add your own pants to make this a complete outfit (and for modesty, unless you’re going out as a steampunk flasher).  I’ve chosen some jeans by Nephilaine Protagonist because their color and texture play nicely with the brown coat, and because they include an underwear-layer version that tucks right into the boots.

For the full benefit of Posy’s journey into the world of steampunk, do your shopping at Civvies at Plunder (Maggiore 127, 128, 601).