Cool clothes and styles of Maker Faire attendees

Earlier today Gareth Branwyn had the idea that we should run an image gallery of the great clothes worn by people who come to Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 (taking place now). So Gar and I went out and snapped some photos of folks wearing interesting outfits. We'll post another gallery later, because there are so many great outfits here at the Faire!

See the Maker Faire Fashion Photo Gallery

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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einsteinatthemall

If I knew there was going to be a fashion show, I would have tried harder to make it to the Faire – here’s an idea, maybe next year have everyone arrive in their skivvies and the attendees could make each other clothing on the spot. It would put the whole complex concept of “making” to the test and it would be a great way to make friends – I’m pleased to see that aggressive tattoos are still the rage. I’ve been worried that aggressive tattoos had somehow lost their appeal in, say 1991 and were still out of fashion. Guess not!
- mitchellpowers
  
  Agressive Tattoo? Cannot scrute this.
http://twitter.com/incarnedine_v Dan Hibiki

is that Garth’s girlfriend on the bottom right?
bcsizemo

Steampunk Star Trek insignia….*turns around and walks away*…
dculberson

Totally awesome, Thanks! And you should let the Columbus Idea Foundry hold a Maker Faire this year, they had awesome Power Tool Drag Races last year and said they hoped to get a Maker Faire this year. I can promise you it would be well attended! And WE progressive midwesterners aren’t lame enough to equate tattoos with “stains and bruises.” (eye roll)
http://goodsharer.com/ Aloisius

I was at the Faire yesterday. It was my first time going and I think I must be jaded.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time especially at the interactive booths, but I couldn’t shake this feeling that a lot of the attendees dressed up in their craziest clothes to get attention. From the guys standing around outside with their outsized prop guns waiting for someone to ask to take their picture with them to the girl on stilts, it just felt… dishonest.

It could have just been the crowds and the lines. I imagine in a more intimate situation where there were you know, conversations between people, a lot of the stuff that turned me off would have just been a misunderstanding, but the conversations I did have don’t make me hopeful.
- penguinchris
  
  I got that sense when I went last year. But it quickly became obvious that there were two main types of people who showed up – those who are like you describe (looking for attention, primarily concerned with aesthetics, many probably go to Burning Man), and everyone else. Relatively few people actually fall into the first category, but they grab your attention so it seems like it’s more.
  
  I don’t disparage those people, and they make lots of neat stuff, but I’m most interested in things with a technical, engineering bent over purely artistic things. The best things, of course, are a mix of both. This is of course the old steampunk debate – hot-gluing random gears on stuff is stupid, but if the gears move and do things (even if useless things) it’s cool.
  
  Once you become acclimated to the crowd, it’s easy to focus in on the things you’re actually interested in, and you can ignore the guys standing around with non-functional prop weapons and the girls on stilts (if you want – I’m sure there are lots of people who are more interested in those things than the things I’m interested in).
  
  That all said, clothing style is 90% form over function in most cases, so no harm in being a little flamboyant when you go to an event like this – especially if you made your clothing (or aspects of it) yourself, as several of these people surely did. At least they’re more interesting than the ill-fitting t-shirt and jeans/cargo shorts combo that 90% of the people there wear :)
- http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
  
  Those guys standing around with their outsized prop guns WERE there for you to take your picture with them. They were part of a costuming booth!
mitchellpowers

4th from top is MC Subzero Permafrost! New Orleans East in the Building!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRsUK-AScLE