The term ‘punk’ has become a highly contested and problematic label since its appropriation in the 1970s, when it was commonly used to describe music produced by many anarchic and irreverent bands. Subsequently, the term has been used to describe genres of fiction that juxtapose punk attitudes with cyberspace (cyberpunk), extreme gore (splatterpunk) or anachronistic technology (steampunk). Although originally coined ironically, steampunk is a particularly interesting case of the wider meanings of punk in terms of a DIY ethos and a rejection of social norms. Drawing on surveys and analysis of online discourses and presentations of self on the one hand, and the responses collected from in-depth interviews with steampunks on the other, we set out the ways steampunk has evolved into a performative style subculture associated with recognisable fashions and lifestyle accessories. Focusing specifically on fashion and music, we analyse steampunk as a subcultural constructor of identity, articulating complex discourses concerning gender and class. The pleasures of steampunk lifestyle are associated with the rejection of contemporary lifestyles and social mores, and a return to ingenuity, craftsmanship and invention, and a real-world acting out of imagined histories. Whilst the steampunk ethos revealed in the desire to reclaim clothing and technology is organized bricolage as opposed to the chaotic anarchy of punk, steampunk, like punk, rejects the norm, and makes a display of difference. The activities of the steampunk community not only intersect with punk and alternative music subcultures, but also exist in the intersections of subculture and fan culture.

The recent online phenomenon of social networking sites (SNS) such as MySpace and Facebook has drawn much media attention to the role that social networks have to play within our culture. Whether SNS are being restricted for use by the US troops in Iraq; being accused of facilitating paedophiles in their online grooming of minors; or playing an integral role in the process of 'disintermediation', which is consequently transforming the climate of media distribution and consumption, their impact is undeniable. Amongst the moral panic headlines, SNS offer social researchers a unique context to map links between online and offline identity connections and community-building practices.This article will explore how the proliferation of social networking sites has facilitated the development of the active female vampire fan community in London (including the three main communities -the Vampyre Connexion, the London Vampyre Group and the London Vampire Meetup). Areas of discussion include: the selective nature of subcultural Internet use that is divided into a network of mini web communities and 'infrastructures'; how online social networks aid and facilitate offline/face-to-face social networking and how the participatory culture (Jenkins et al. 2006;Beer and Burrows 2007) of Web 2.0 has played an intrinsic role in the creation of virtual celebrities.

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Welcome to this special edition of Clothing Cultures on the subject of Subverting Fashion. This issue contains articles that explore the paradoxical nature of fashion as it is incorporated into individual clothing styles and dress practices. Fashion can represent consumerism, conformity and repression, but can also be recognized as a means to communicate individuality, cultural and subcultural affiliations, personality and tastes, and expressions of identity.The common theme that runs throughout this edition is concerned with the ways in which fashion and clothing can be subverted by and in response to popular culture. By this, we do not mean to imply that fashion itself has subversive potential in any socio-political way, but that individuals and groups often engage in an element of sartorial play to suit their own purposes. It could be argued that all fashion has the ability to be subversive as fashion is constantly evolving and reinventing itself, but the aim of this issue is to consider the specific ways that clothes and lifestyle accessories may be used as a form of creativity, self-expression, collective identity and rebelliousness in, and in response to, media and culture. On the one hand, dress practices are often influenced by or adapted from costumes in popular culture. On the other, clothing styles can also be reimagined as a sign of group or subcultural identity. However, neither practice is simply mimetic, nor homogenous. As illustrated by the articles in this volume, styles derived from costume and associated performative dress practices can involve negotiation, adaptation and appropriation. Included in the following pages are case studies that address diverse aspects of culture, not only performative styles associated with subcultural groupings but also dress that takes inspiration from film, television, music and online games. The consumers and fans of such texts, and how they absorb textual aesthetics within their lifestyle choices, are also considered.Concerns of identity are of paramount importance across these articles, and in particular are those associated with gender, race and sexuality. In the first article, Barbara Brownie draws on superhero narratives and multiplayer online

Dressing up as Vampires is an ethnographic audience study investigating issues of identity and the masquerade within the active female vampire fan community. Drawing on previous theoretical material by Milly Williamson (2005), Paul Hodkinson (2002) and wider methodological approaches such as Lori Kendall (1999) this paper will focus on the negotiation of female fans’ identities across various online networks such as MySpace, LiveJournal, VEIN (Vampire Exchange Information Network) and Yahoo newsgroups. Its objective is to explore how identity is constructed in the virtual community via imagery (avatars & graphics), photography and text and to what extent this online persona encroaches and impacts upon fans’ ‘real lives’. Through analysis of these online networks I will suggest that female vampire fans use the Internet as an extension of their identity, and although they may construct an alternate persona within cyberspace, this usually serves as a reinforcement of their idealised ‘real life’ identity.