Steampunk costume

A good friend of mine is having a Steampunk sweet 16 birthday party....and we need to go in costume. Problem is, I need a costume that is fairly cheap, and that I could make/put together with stuff I already have. Does any one have an ideas? If not, where can I buy S.P stuff fairly cheap? I've looked at Amazon, but $40+ is a lot on a tight purse....

The party is either in April or March.

Try thrift stores! I am definitely not an expert on steampunk, but I'd say try to find fishnet tights (prolly hafta go to a 'real' store for those) and then just....random stuff in dark colors...with thouches of red...and...intereteting makeup? *is not helping* What I mean is, find pics of steampunk, and try to put it together! Which is prolly easier than, say, Civil War or something, right?

My hopeless two cents.

Hey, anything is good!

Fishnet tights...man. I'm Miss Modesty, this could be interesting.

Not necessarily.

First, look for clothes that have a Victorian-era or Wild West-era aesthetic. Corsets, long skirts, vests, high buttoned boots, spats, blouses with a high collar, top hats, etc. Stick to dark earthy tones, mainly browns and reds but blacks and greys are pretty good too.

And it will depend on whether you're going for an "adventurer" look or more of a high society look (i.e. an adventurer would wear pants instead of a skirt whereas a high society look would be very similar to a Victorian lady).

And then add a few technological accessories! Make sure they keep with the aesthetic of the time period, i.e. wood and awesome/gold instead of sleek and silver. Google and Wikipedia can give you ideas.

Good luck, and I hope you have fun at your party! It sounds like fun!