InsaneJournal

Wizarding Weird - story/art notes
I just sat around and made up a genre of music/subculture called Magepunk, and four sub-subcultures thereof.
Each of them with its own little traditions and distinctive fashion choices.
I make notes here so I can go back and refer to them later. Feel free to adopt or borrow any of these.  ;) It's all open source, yo.



Magepunk - alternative musical style characterized by mixing traditional with more modern (and Muggle) instruments. Definite rejection of traditional melodic/ballad forms. Lots of screaming. Could sometimes be mistaken for some kinds of Muggle punk, but with really good pyrotechnics and light shows. Magepunks are usually distinctive by their unconventional modification of Wizarding robes to subvert common fashion. Shifting colors, tape, pins, glowing embroidery, ripping out and exchanging sleeves with a friend, or layering pieces of different kinds of robes together while exposing lots of skin are all found in the scene.

Sub-groups:
Elf Metalists wear baggy robes or altered clothes, rip them up and either sew in constrasting patterns or pull the rips together with long silver pins. They tend to congregate around bands using only magical sound, shunning any use of Muggle tech. The most dedicated Elf Metalists will wear color-coded wristbands or belts to note their Blood Purity - based on how many generations they can track.

Kali-mages don't tend to care how a band is making its music as long as they're singing about nihilism, futility, angst, or the general sucktastic nature of the world. They could care less about blood purity and often actively mock Elf Metalists by wearing wristbands in black to mimic the Purity bands. Kali-mages never wear more than two colors at a time, and go monochromatic often. Some even go so far as to bleach, dye, or charm their hair to match their current color. Usually they were black, dark gray, or variations on the red spectrum. A rare few choose white, and they get called Shivas; rarer still are Krishnas, who wear deep, vivid blue.

Technomages defy societal mores by modifying Muggle electronics or creating charms to mimic their effects, to produce a techno/magepunk sound. They tend to wear lots of latex, leather, and metal, and go in for body modifications of the tattooing, piercing, and fashion sort. (Hello, Xtreme corsetry.) They are an extreme fringe group, but one whose members get the lion's share of the publicity.

Lumopunks love a good light show. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes probably makes a lot of money off these kids. They also tend to be the ones most in to alternative substances - again, possibly a home-mod on a Wheeze? - to achieve an altered state of consciousness during performances. Lumopunks are the ones who most often end up splinched or otherwise involved in magical accidents because they try to use their wands before they come down fully from their high. They're easy to find in a crowd, though, and for Aurors or Bouncers to keep on eye on, because of their brightly colored clothes. Generally pretty standard in design, the colors are always bright, sometimes luminescent, and occasionally actively blink.



The men in the white truck are coming, but I am pleading creativity. dianamoon said I could!