Is it truly functional or just decoration?

[Lady Rayna Keller]

That is the question I find popping up like crazy when designing most outfits and one I find most annoying too.    Why can't something be both functional and decoration?  Why does it have to be one or the other?

For instance a pocket watch...yes it is decoration because of the designs etched into it but it is also functional for me.  I can't stand having to always take out my Ipod or my phone to check the bloody time when I can simply just open the watch that sits around my neck on a chain.   Not to mention I use it to teach my daughter how to read an actual clock not one of those digital ones.  

Is it just me or do you also prefer some of the "vintage" ways of doing things compare to the modern?

[Arabella Porter]

    I like the feel of a pocket watch. I like the sort of romanticism of having the device. Even though it's a tiny difference between pushing a button and seeing the numbers in LED form, I find that if I'm at a steampunk event, the Iphone takes away from not only the escapism but the genre that we bring to life as steampunks whether it's in the span of a simple three hour meet up or a weekend convention. As one would say, "the illusion shatters". 

     I can't say that my fake gun is functional because not only would I be lying, but if I weren't , that'd be terrifying. Although, I did take violent measures with it once, proving that like how someone  violated my personal bubble I wanted to show zeh how bubble violation should REALLY be done.

     Furthermore, I did have a poison ring once that belonged to my great grandmother I'm pretty sure and being a gal whose social and mental abilities are dependent on medication, I found this ring to be spectacular. I never missed a dose. However that ring is gone and I'm looking at a very nice piece of jewelry these days to be my future, portable meds helper. It was also wonderful because you never know what kind of people you're around and pill boxes, especially with the meds that I take which are known for being abused at raves and techno parties, do disappear if one is not cautious.

      I'm not saying that I'm wildly opposed to modern technology. It has helped people (with learning disabilities even) and it has also created many problems today.

      However, I do appreciate, especially on holidays, doings a few things in a vintage fashion. The way we make charoset on pesach...I feel like you could put a shmatte on my head and drop me in a cottage in an old Ashkenazi shtetle and call it a day. Honestly, there's something so fulfilling about grinding and chopping up the ingredients in a big wooden bowl myself rather than throwing them in a blender.