Accessories like gas masks are an integral part of Steampunk fashion, but have you ever wondered why? What makes them fit so perfectly into the Steampunk genre and not just for Halloween? How did they become part of a retro-futuristic fashion?
Key points
- 🎭 Steampunk Fashion : Gas masks are essential in Steampunk fashion for their retro-futuristic aesthetic.
- 🛡️ Military History : Their origin dates back to World War I inventions to protect against toxic gases.
- 👗 Haute Couture : Incorporated into fashion designs, including gas masks adorned with lace and rhinestones.
- 🎬 Pop culture : Featured in movies like Mad Max and video games like Fallout.
- 📜 War Propaganda : Used during World War II to encourage adoption by civilians.
- 👶 Design for children : Walt Disney designed a Mickey Mouse gas mask to calm children during the war.
- 🌍 Post-apocalyptic : Symbolizes contemporary concerns of pollution and climate change.
- 🎮 Video games : Featured in many video games, adding a touch of realism and style.
- 🎶 Music : Mentioned in songs, reinforcing their presence in popular culture.
- 🕵️ Multifunctional accessory : Combining functionality and aesthetics, gas masks remain a symbol of resilience and creativity.
More than just a Steampunk custom
The gas mask, a simple wartime invention, has made its way around the world over the years, from the trenches of World War II to the silver screen to the runway at Berlin Fashion Week. Today, you can find it as a fashion accessory in conference rooms and convention centers across the country where Steampunk enthusiasts gather to celebrate their favorite literary genre.
History of gas masks, a must-have for steampunk costumes.
Anyone who knows anything about the Dieselpunk and Steampunk niche understands the importance of World War I technology and fashion to the genre, and for good reason. Throughout the 1800s, many patents were filed for various lung protectors and respirators, but the most significant development came in 1871 when John Tyndall, a British physicist, patented a device that allowed firefighters to breathe in smoky environments while rescuing people. In 1914, Garret Morgan created the Morgan Safety Hood, which would become the first American gas mask and would be used in a multitude of rescue situations, including the rescue of over 30 men from an underground explosion at the bottom of Lake Eerie.
With the creation of the first real gas masks in the United States and Britain, the military found them incredibly useful, protecting troops from mustard gas and other weapons that had never been used in war. By the time of World War II, Britain even issued them to civilians to protect them from enemy attacks, which prompted handbag manufacturers to start designing handbags with compartments for storing gas masks and even encouraging newspapers to print sewing patterns so women could create covers for their gas mask cases to match their clothing.
The government tried to promote the idea that gas masks should be part of everyday life for their citizens, providing a huge amount of wartime propaganda with images of everyone wearing them in the office, right down to young children in classrooms.
Since then,gas masks have entered the mainstream, partly as props in film, television, and fashion, but also as potentially useful devices for civilians in the event of an enemy attack. Today, there are even bras designed to transform into gas masks in an emergency, proving that gas masks can appear where you least expect them!
Gas masks as fashion
Steampunk has become such a powerful genre in pop culture that it has reached the highest levels of the fashion world. German designer Irene Luft, known for her feminine and romantic contemporary designs, created a look complete with gas masks covered in lace, sequins and flowers as part of her 2013 fashion line.
Not to be outdone, designer Diddo created a line of designer gas masks in 2014 covered in rhinestones and famous fashion logos belonging to Louis Vuitton and Gucci. At the other end of the design spectrum is Icelandic artist Sruli Recht who designed a lightweight paper gas mask with disposable filters.
Gas mask design wasn’t just left to military and high-end fashion designers—Walt Disney himself even tried it out during World War II. In 1942, Walt Disney created a gas mask designed to look like Mickey Mouse in order to calm frightened children who were being bombed to help with the war effort. While he wasn’t exactly trying to design something with a Steampunk or Dieselpunk feel, Disney inadvertently created something with a truly apocalyptic aesthetic.
Gas masks in POP culture.
Gas masks seem to be popping up everywhere on the silver screen, from movies where you might expect to see them like Mad Max and Resident Evil or Mortal Engines of course, to places where you would almost never expect to see them at all, like Batman or The Grapes of Wrath. Even Star Wars, the record-breaking phenomenon and America’s favorite trilogy, features the StormTroopers and Darth Vader all wearing gas masks or respirators during the films.
Gas masks aren't just in movies. They play a role in the fashion aesthetics of dozens of steam punk video games, from military games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and Team Fortress 2 to post-apocalyptic games like Day Z and Fallout. More recently, Frost Punk has seen some originality with an industrial revolution gone seriously wrong during the Victorian era. They even appear in the occasional song, like SahBabhii's "Gas Mask" and Dropkick Murphys' "Far Away Coast."
Post-apocalyptic gas masks
Given humanity’s rapid descent into pollution and climate change, it’s not hard to see why gas masks play such a prominent role in post-apocalyptic fashion. From military-grade masks designed solely to protect you from a dangerous environment to sleekly designed masks covered in a truly epic amount of material, gas masks are a common sight in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Given the close ties between Steampunk, Cyberpunk, Dieselpunk, and post-apocalyptic scenarios, it makes perfect sense that gas masks are one of the common threads between the genres.
Gas masks have a long and colorful history in the Steampunk world. Have fun with the different models, in an alley it really sets a good atmosphere.
See you soon Vaporiste for a next article, thank you for sharing this one.
