The gateway to the intoxicating experience of the subculture, steampunk fashion has an element of interest for almost everyone, whether they're a history buff, craft creator, or giddy free spirit. Though it sprawls across literature, music, art, film, and more, steampunk—a sort of retro-futuristic Victorian fantasyland—is a movement most easily recognizable, especially for those unfamiliar with it, by its fashion.

Now that the subculture is chugging full steam ahead onto the radar of the general public, it's important to remember and embrace the depth behind steampunk style; we can't have the whole aesthetic become irrigated by canals of triteness, after all. But if steampunk style is more than just goggles and gears, what is it?