Theme

...Bodice and bustle, corsets and lace, friends brought together by night’s dark embrace...

Convergence committees often look to the past to find inspiration for their gatherings, with one eye cast forward toward creating new traditions of their own. Portland’s Convergence proposal committee looks back to the Gilded Age as inspiration for its theme, while paying homage to the traditions of Convergence past, blending the old with the new with sometimes surprising (we hope!) results.

It is in this spirit that we bring you our theme for Convergence 13:

A Dark Victorian Dream

Many of our most beloved traditions are rooted in the Victorian era: Corsets and bustles, pointy boots, and fishnet stockings. But the impact Victorians had on the modern Goth scene extend far beyond fashion. Authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelly, and Oscar Wilde redefined literature; Pre-Raphaelites redefined art; science, spirituality, and theosophy redefined traditional views of religion; a continent away, Jack the Ripper redefined mass murder. And hidden just beneath the prudish exteriors of the Victorian genteel, people everywhere looked desperately for an escape from the grim elements of an industrial society, and indulged themselves in new attitudes toward sex, religion, and a passion for the unknown.