Thursday's New York Times online edition had two articles / photo slideshows that caught my eye:

Steampunk Moves Between Two Worlds
"Steampunk" should be nothing new to manga and anime fans -- series like Full Metal Alchemist, D.Gray Man and movies such as Howl's Moving Castle and Steamboy are examples of stories that draw from the Victorian era, H.G. Wells-inspired sci-fi style that mixes turn of the century romance and craftsman details with retro-futuristic steam-powered technology. As the article explains it:

It is also the vision of steampunk, a subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives, brass diving bells and jar-shaped protosubmarines.... That definition is loose enough to accommodate a stew of influences, including the streamlined retro-futurism of Flash Gordon and Japanese animation with its goggle-wearing hackers, the postapocalyptic scavenger style of “Mad Max,” and vaudeville, burlesque and the structured gentility of the Victorian age. In aggregate, steampunk is a trend that is rapidly outgrowing niche status.

Be sure to check out the photo slide show of the steampunk aesthetic, especially the steampunk-style computer and keyboard!

Power Dressing - Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy
On display now at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute is an intriguing retrospective of superhero style, and how it has influenced haute couture. Wonder Woman and Spiderman costumes worn by Lynda Carter and Toby McGuire are displayed alongside futuristic fashions by Jean-Paul Gaultier, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen in Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy.

The show opened on May 7 and will continue through September 1, 2008. For a peek at some of the comic book-inspired couture on display, check out the Times' slide show of the exhibit.

© Hiromu Arakawa