Hmmmnnn. What is âEdwardianâ about this? 
I think it is more accurately a âTim Burton Music Hall Burlesqueâ - âNot that thereâs anything wrong with thatâŠâ It does look like fun, but I hope that the revelers of 100 years hence have an idea that todayâs society isnât best historically represented by recreating Nicki Minaj at a strip club with 3D printers!
Steam? Steam is really late Georgian and Victorian. Edward VII really has us past the era of gas light into electricity and fuel oil.
Are we really going to debate what era our alternative history anachronistic fantasy is set in?
What good is pedantry, if we cannot playfully exercise it? 
But having Comte Robert de Montesquiou as your Avatar, you probably know this.
The décolletage makes me think more of an SCA event than a steampunk event.
You canât be pedantic about Steampunk. Youâll drive yourself nuts. The whole thing is one giant anachronism.
I mean most of the men are wearing clothing that is clearly Gatsby inspired, books are happy to put Edwardian-era airships everywhere, everyone has a mid-18th century Matchlock or Flintlock rifle and everything is made out of brass as opposed to the steel or iron.
Dresses of that period often paired a skirt (many yards of fabric), with both afternoon and evening bodices (a much smaller amount of fabric). The afternon bodice had a proper collar: the evening bodice was low cut.
Which is a shame, because each decade is distinctive.
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Itâs videos like this that make me realize I have absolutely no sense of personal style.
Indeed. The Analytical engine (which was to have run on steam) was first proposed in 1837. Babbage died in 1871.
Since dressing up is clearly an integral part of the steampunk scene, Iâll note that the âfirst bustle periodâ began in 1870. Before then, crinolines were the fashion. The design icon Oscar Wilde didnât really become popular until ten years later. And the film Moulin Rouge which probably inspired some of the aesthetic choices of the Ballâs attendees is set in 1900â though Baz Luhrmann embraces the anachronismâŠ
Gunning for the Pedant Pendant, she types⊠The Edwardian Ball started as an Edward Gorey Ball many years back in the Cat Club nightclub in San Francisco. Itâs evolved into this grand multi-night thing in LA and SF, and although every year they do a staged version of an Edward Gorey story, it would be fair to say itâs much more Tim Burton/steampunk/fantasy/etc. at this point. But some people still DO come in high Edwardian style, while some push it out to the early flappers.
Remember: never read the comments
Yeah, there is no real steam in this punk.
Funny how everyone questions the steam but not the punk. Seems too well-behaved to be considered punk.
Oswald Bastable and âWarlords of the Airâ. Not steam - but lighter-than-air punk.
The âEdwardianâ refers to Edward Gorey, not Edward VII. At least the last one I went to a few years ago.
Edit: Whoops, missed @Elusis beating me to that. By two days.
Ah. Makes sense - but of course, substitutes an âin-jokeâ for a common cultural and academically defined reference to the 1900 period in the Anglophone world⊠
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