Conflux 7 is a speculative fiction conference in my own home town – Canberra. The official program is here (and currently incorrect), but I’m guessing the bits you want to know are:
2.30pm Saturday 1 October: Steampunk Panel – What is steampunk – and clockpunk, and dieselpunk – and why do we love it so?
12.30pm Sunday 2 October: – Steampunk Australia Panel – What does Australian Steampunk look like?
And there’s another steampunk panel, probably “The holy trinity of Steampunk” on Monday (which is a public holiday).
Not uncoincidentally, I shall be on the panels for the first two. . . wearing my best effort at steampunk maternity fashion.
There shall be photos, I promise.
The other major feature of the conference is, as always the Saturday night banquet “aboard the LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin in its first round the world trip August 1929. Dr Gillian Polack is once again designing a wonderful historically accurate menu and entertainment”.
(This image was taken from the original by Grombo.)
It’s going to be incredible. Let me know if you’re coming to one of the first two steampunk panels, and I’ll keep an eye out for you. If you book your registration in the next eight days, you get an earlybird discount.
Maternity Steampunk! That sounds like something one could have fun designing. Possibly not so fun doing… If I recall, the actual Victorian thing to do was retire from society until it went away (we can’t have anyone know women actually have sex, even if they’re married). That doesn’t sound like fun though.
W: The pre-Victorian high-waisted dresses are probably the ultimate in maternity wear (keeping the shape where the pregnant lady still has it, but leaving her heaps of room elsewhere). Corsets. . . not so much.
That’s true – Regency well befits a pregnant lady (though a woman who might look a bit pregnant but isn’t should probably be careful without a corset…).
W: Quite a few tribal outfits also (for obvious reasons) make excellent maternity wear – and not-so-great “I just ate a big lunch” wear. Papua New Guinea has the meriblous, for example.