The subculture of steampunk involves a revamp of the victorian age. Within Steampunk there is clothing, art, literature, and music, among other things, and all are typically filled with machanics fuelled by steam, and extravagant dirigibles. It truely is a classic age mixed with fantasy.

In the fashion industry, steampunk has become a major hit. Classic steampunk designs including cogs and gears are being incorporated into the clothing lines of various designers. However, it is in the cosplay scene that steampunk is seen as a growing trend. Many cosplayers get together to wear steampunk costmes, including modified and stylized Victorian clothing, and portray themselves as pirates, adventurers, explorers, and victorian socialites. They wear outfits adorned with top hats and goggles, decorated coats, and even mock ray guns! The do-it-yourself community supports steampunk because most steampunk stuff has to be made your self. The aforementioned ray guns are simply modified and painted Nerf or Airsoft guns. Some are even good enough to use wood and metal to build their own ray guns or other accessories! You can find more info on this at http://steampunkguides.com.

There is no definitive style of music that is steampunk; rather steampunk qualities can be found in all different artists from all different styles of music, including rock, rap, electronic, and others. Steampunk qualities in rock tend to have dark beats, gritty guitar, and sometimes a hint of folk. A once industrial band named Abney Park proclaim themselves a Steampunk band. They are influenced by steampunk not only in their music, but in their clothing, design of their instruments, and even the fictional personas that they carry with them on stage. Aside from steampunk rock, there is rap and hip-hop music influenced by steampunk, and usually includes a deep but up-beat bass and lyrics that either depict the life of a mad scientist, or a post-apocalyptic world. The best example of this is Dr. Steel. He has catchy but heavy-hitting beats, and his stage-persona is of a mad scientist.

The Art culture has picked up on the Steampunk trend surprisingly fast. Paintings of vast desolate landscapes, with dirigibles and other flying machines soaring through the grey skies can be easily discovered not only online, but also in galleries. The art style is like any other, but the perspective and purpose of these paintings is unlike anything else. Dark and dreary, these portraits usually depict a deadened world, a violent sea, or even the inside to a dungeon like lab, with Frankenstein-esque instruments strewn about tables and the floor. Again, it is fairly easy to identify a Steampunk inspired painting nowadays, since it is such a unique style.

Steampunk literature has really been the start of the steampunk culture. Jules Verne and H. G. Wells are said to have birthed Steampunk through such novels as "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" and "The Time Machine." "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" involves a giant submarine that couldn't possibly exist when it was written, so it was futuristic, along with the time machine in "The Time Machine." To us, now, those things are retro, but in those time periods they were very out of place. Whithout their knowedge, inventions, and worlds, the steampunk community may have never existed. Their ideas are the driving force behind the steampunk community and steampunk as a whole.