Verne would definitely be steampunk if he were writing in the present day. It really varies, I think. The Nemesis, who was the moderator of the panel, was dressed like a goth and wearing black goggles. The good Capt. Robert of Abney Park dresses like this:



There is also a whole flickr of steampunk costumes from the con to be seen here. (http://www.flickr.com/groups/dragonconsteam2008/pool/) You can probably garner ideas from that.

Having your headphones wired in would be pretty cool. I'm sure you could figure a way to do it.