The world of Sherlockiana is a very different place these days.
It isn't just the movies and television shows. It isn't just the various flavors of social media. It isn't just publish-on-demand, e-books, and the ability to get any piece of writing, art, or music out to more fellow fans than ever before. It isn't even seeing the "Sherlock Shake" being done by Dutch Sherlockians not all that long after they performed it.
I went shopping for clothes Sunday morning. Victorian clothes. "Sherlock wear," one might say.
After looking around at the various online shops and consulting with an experienced friend, I settled on the Gentleman's Emporium. Found a shirt that was pretty close to an old favorite of mine, a pair of trousers that suited me, and suspenders to hold them up. It took me a little bit, because there were actually choices. If my work dress code allowed it, I could see building an entire daily wardrobe from another time and just adopting that as my fashion of choice. (Choice is not usually something we get much of in men's fashions.)
The new clothes are not for some costume party. They aren't for dressing up as Sherlock, John, Mycroft, or some other denizen of Canonical London. They're just because clothes out of time are cool.
And it's also about altering reality just a little bit. Sherlockians have been doing that as long as there have been Sherlockians, taking history and finding a place in it to call Holmes's. It's all about finding the right puzzle pieces and tilting them just enough to put them in place. And thanks to our little paradigm shift in technology over the last twenty years, we've now got some fun new puzzle pieces, easy to get your hands on.
Our hobby is full of wildly huge possibilities these days, and the cutting edge of Holmes fandom, way ahead of me, is starting to open up some of them. Good times ahead.
The ongoing investigation of Sherlock Holmes, reported from the Peoria, Illinois outpost of Baker Street's dirtiest half a dozen.
Tonight Watson's Tin Box had a wonderfully fun meeting. We always have fun meetings; founded by Paul Churchill, who delighted in fun and frivolity, the Tin Box can be nothing else but delightful. But tonight was among one of the best. Why? It might have been our new Gasogene, or president, who is a late-twenties-early-thirties woman. It could have been the half dozen new (young) members who come from the new fandom. It could have been some older, but new to the group, members who are involved in other fandoms and have brought the fun with them. Tonight's meeting involved a demonstration and competition of tea-duelling (look it up--not canonical, but hilarious), a lively discussion of The Red-Headed League, and the quiz being won by one of the new, young Sherlock Holmes fans. Good times tonight, and more good times ahead, as you said. I am so thrilled to be a Sherlockian right now!
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