On day two of Steampunkapalooza I am honored to introduce to you Truls Stokka, the owner of a fabulous clothing company called DraculaClothing! Their clothing is amazingly well made and gorgeous! Their prices are also very reasonable and they are so nice! I highly recommend visiting them for your corset needs!

Lolita Elizabeth: First off I want to thank you, Truls for gracing our blog with your presence and indulging me with a few questions! We are so happy to have you here with us at Steamed! to celebrate our one year anniversary!

Truls Stokka: Thank you for having me here, I love your blog.

LE: Lets start at the very beginning as they say, how old were you when you first developed a love for alternative fashion? And when did steampunk enter into the picture?

TS: My first encounter with alternative fashion was when I watched, Bram Stokers Dracula when I was 16 (1992) and The Crow two years later. I hadn’t heard about goth at that time, but in 1995 I started going to Gotham Nights in Oslo, I have always preferred the Victorian aristocrat side of the Goth culture, but I guess the first time I heard the word steampunk was 4 or 5 years ago.

LE: Was it your love of alternative clothing that drove you to start DraculaClothing? And what sparked the idea to start sharing your fabulous clothing with all of us?

TS: What made me start DraculaClothing was two events. I had a trip to India in ‘98 where I met some amazing tailors that created some suits and coats for me from some drawings I made, the quality and price was unlike anything I had seen before and I thought about opening a shop for suits, but for some reason I didn’t.

Then about three years ago I was walking around in Camden planning to buy some clothing, I was less than impressed with the design and quality of nearly everything I saw and the prices where horrible, so I decided that I would make a shop that would sell quality clothes at a reasonable price.

LE: Well I am sure I am not the only speaking here when I say that I am so glad you started DraculaClothing! Do you create all your clothing designs? What inspires you when come up with designs?

TS: Ida and I make most of the designs ourself, we had a few other people who have made 1 or 2 corsets, but it is mainly us. The Victorian and Edwardian age is the number one inspiration although I try to do some new version of it, like the male V-shaper that is a mixture between a traditional vest and a male corset or corsets that have panels that hides the busk like Steampunk Officer Underbust.

LE: I personally love to blend the goth style with steampunk, do you like to mix and match the two styles or do you keep them separate?

TS: I love to mix all kinds of styles, the Goth Lolita scene has a lot of interesting elements, the Rococo age had some extraordinary outfits, if I want to design something masculine I always look at military officer uniforms, and even modern designers like Alexander McQueen (very sad that he died) have some interesting elements. I am working to create some steampunk outfits that look steampunk by themselves. Most of the steampunk outfits I have seen are steampunk because of the accessories, and the clothing itself is mostly victorian.

LE: Being a lover of all things Vampire I have to ask, why the name Dracula Clothing? Are you a fan of Vampires or just Dracula in specific?

TS: Bram Stokers Dracula is a masterpiece for me, and when I think about that movie I think about elegant clothing aristocrat lifestyle and Winona Ryder;), and I wanted a name people would remember that was available.

LE: Well who didn’t love Winona Ryder in Bram Stokers Dracula? She had such a fabulous wardrobe! If you ever decide to recreate the red dress she wore in that movie let me know! What first pulled you into the steampunk subculture?

TS: Difficult question, I don’t think I have been pulled into a steampunk subculture, I have been in a goth subculture and some of them have started dressing steampunk occasionally. I would love to go to some steampunk parties in the US though (feel free to invite me)

LE: Have you heard of this gathering known as Steamcon in Seattle, WA? You could set up a booth there! And it is a totally fun steampunk party all weekend! Ok, last question! Any tips for us corset wears out there? I have yet to be able to lace my own corset tightly by myself, should I practice yoga to become more limber or does it generally require an extra set of hands?

TS: Ida is the expert in that area, she manages to lace herself up easily, I think we have to make a video of that and post it in our blog.

LE: I would adore you forever if you made that video! Might save me from dislocating my shoulder! Thank you so much for joining us! I speak from personal experience when I say your clothing is lovely! I adore the steampunk princess corset I got from you!

TS: Thank you!

I hope you enjoyed this lovely chat with Truls Stokka owner of DraculaClothing! Stay tuned for more exciting guests as our Steampunkapalooza marches on!

~Elizabeth

I had to post this here as well, thank you for your blog entry -Truls-