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Description
Entry for challenge 2 of Project Runway dA

So the challenge this week was to choose our favorite electrically-powered object and design an outfit around it.

I chose a coffee maker. Because everything I do is powered by caffeine.

TL;DR DESCRIPTION
I decided that a multi-purpose design was most appropriate to the idea of a coffee maker. The overall shapes are intended to be simple, but made up of many numerous parts, contrasting the goals and effects of caffeine.

-------

CONCEPTS

So in examining a coffee maker, I started looking at the coffee maker's purpose. Think about the hows and whys all you want, a coffee maker makes coffee, that glorious nectar of the gods. The associations that tend to come with the users of coffee are the business people. It tends to have a serious connotation to it; kind of a "screw sleep, I need to get this DONE" sort of thing.

So the idea naturally flowed that the most appropriate outfit to design in this case would be professional wear.

The next idea was that people who are addicted to coffee are the ones who have too much to do, not enough time. From that idea, the outfit suddenly needed to become multi-purpose. It made sense that a coffee-maker inspired outfit would be the sort of outfit that could transform from work to play with the change of only a few accessories.

I thought about it some more. While coffee is serious and austere, it also does weird things to you. Specifically lots and lots of jitters. This idea became the drive behind the details of the design. Coffee represents what I call "restrained chaos." You're trying hard to keep things under control, but underneath there's more going on that should be.

OUTFIT
I started with the silhouette of a coffee pot, a shape that seems to reflect a skirt. I made the silhouette more subtle to be wearable but still suggestive. The belt and the stripe at the bottom suggest many coffee-maker pots, which follow a similar structure.

The silhouette struck me as very feminine with the attention drawn to the waist, so I decided to play with that. The undershirt then had the purpose of that soft feel with the cowel neck. This also seemed to be very versatile, as it took a new casual appearance when the coat was removed. The idea behind this seemed appropriate; for a woman in the business world, even her femininity must be restrained (i.e. being tucked into the belt)

I decided on a tailored bolero for the coat to keep that feminine hourglass appearance. The short length allowed the idea of having the collar take the entire length seem natural. White bias binding was added to the collar to tie it in with the color scheme of the rest of the outfit.

The whole "restrained chaos" idea expressed itself in the patterning and detailing. The panels of the skirt are not at all traditional, flowing in a liquid-like spiral. They are not of standard size, to help with that idea. The fact that there are a lot of panels represent how much is going on underneath. This idea is also reflected in the number of panels in the jacket; specifically, the sleeves.

The differences in these panels are differentiated with the patterning. I envision this as being done literally splattering coffee in different manners on white fabric. This helps with the multi purpose idea. The brown ties in with the professional coat, but it also creates a more fun aspect to make it adequate for night life.

I chose fabric buttons as the closure as sort of a line of specific visual interest in the skirt. The idea behind this was of percolating coffee in the coffee maker.

The unseen aspect of the chaos of caffeine is best expressed by the lining of the jacket being similar to the fabric of the skirt. It's not seen, but it's there.

FABRICS
Jacket -- suit-weight wool with china silk lining
Top -- light-medium weight fabric, either a knit or a weave with a soft drape (key is the soft drape)
Skirt -- medium to heavy weight weave; probably a non-stretch cotton sateen

COLOR SELECTION
I opted for a much darker brown than is usually associated with coffee. Partly because I drink my coffee black, also because coffee has none of that milk or cream that lightens the color when it's actually in the coffee maker. Mostly, it had to do with contrast. I felt a high contrast composition was most natural to my ideas.

ACCESSORIES
The accessories are what defines the function of the outfit of the time. The accessories (and hairstyle) for the business side are restrained. The shoes were styled after loafers, but with a nice professional heel. The brown color and white stitching ties in with the jacket, the silver buckle with the belt.

The accessories for the fun side are supposed to be more fun and funky. Oversized earrings and silver bracelet bring this especially. The boots, made of a stretch vinyl/leather tie in with the belt, and also add a hip, funky feel. I did consider adding color in the boots to tie it in, but ultimately, all attempts ended up drawing attention away from the rest of the outfit. The solid color balanced the composition with the top better without adding anything. The best way to tie things in color wise would be to use brown thread in stitching, not something that would really show up at this scale.

COLOR SCHEME
There's supposed to be a light dark contrast. The dark business contrasts the light of day and represents the more reserved. The white is much more bright and eye catching, especially in the dark of night. This also explains the color difference in the shoes.

I chose a much darker brown than tends to be associated witch coffee to represent strong maker black coffee. Partly because that's how coffee is when it's in the coffee (the lightening with cream and sweeteners happens later), partly because that's my preferred manner of coffee ingestion.

---

Okay, I think that's it. I'll add anything as I think of it, and hopefully edit this down a little better to the essentials.

Fashion base from here: [link]

For those that don't want to read that book of a description, I've now included a tl;dr version. :-P

Description
Entry for challenge 2 of Project Runway dA

So the challenge this week was to choose our favorite electrically-powered object and design an outfit around it.

I chose a coffee maker. Because everything I do is powered by caffeine.

TL;DR DESCRIPTION
I decided that a multi-purpose design was most appropriate to the idea of a coffee maker. The overall shapes are intended to be simple, but made up of many numerous parts, contrasting the goals and effects of caffeine.

-------

CONCEPTS

So in examining a coffee maker, I started looking at the coffee maker's purpose. Think about the hows and whys all you want, a coffee maker makes coffee, that glorious nectar of the gods. The associations that tend to come with the users of coffee are the business people. It tends to have a serious connotation to it; kind of a "screw sleep, I need to get this DONE" sort of thing.

So the idea naturally flowed that the most appropriate outfit to design in this case would be professional wear.

The next idea was that people who are addicted to coffee are the ones who have too much to do, not enough time. From that idea, the outfit suddenly needed to become multi-purpose. It made sense that a coffee-maker inspired outfit would be the sort of outfit that could transform from work to play with the change of only a few accessories.

I thought about it some more. While coffee is serious and austere, it also does weird things to you. Specifically lots and lots of jitters. This idea became the drive behind the details of the design. Coffee represents what I call "restrained chaos." You're trying hard to keep things under control, but underneath there's more going on that should be.

OUTFIT
I started with the silhouette of a coffee pot, a shape that seems to reflect a skirt. I made the silhouette more subtle to be wearable but still suggestive. The belt and the stripe at the bottom suggest many coffee-maker pots, which follow a similar structure.

The silhouette struck me as very feminine with the attention drawn to the waist, so I decided to play with that. The undershirt then had the purpose of that soft feel with the cowel neck. This also seemed to be very versatile, as it took a new casual appearance when the coat was removed. The idea behind this seemed appropriate; for a woman in the business world, even her femininity must be restrained (i.e. being tucked into the belt)

I decided on a tailored bolero for the coat to keep that feminine hourglass appearance. The short length allowed the idea of having the collar take the entire length seem natural. White bias binding was added to the collar to tie it in with the color scheme of the rest of the outfit.

The whole "restrained chaos" idea expressed itself in the patterning and detailing. The panels of the skirt are not at all traditional, flowing in a liquid-like spiral. They are not of standard size, to help with that idea. The fact that there are a lot of panels represent how much is going on underneath. This idea is also reflected in the number of panels in the jacket; specifically, the sleeves.

The differences in these panels are differentiated with the patterning. I envision this as being done literally splattering coffee in different manners on white fabric. This helps with the multi purpose idea. The brown ties in with the professional coat, but it also creates a more fun aspect to make it adequate for night life.

I chose fabric buttons as the closure as sort of a line of specific visual interest in the skirt. The idea behind this was of percolating coffee in the coffee maker.

The unseen aspect of the chaos of caffeine is best expressed by the lining of the jacket being similar to the fabric of the skirt. It's not seen, but it's there.

FABRICS
Jacket -- suit-weight wool with china silk lining
Top -- light-medium weight fabric, either a knit or a weave with a soft drape (key is the soft drape)
Skirt -- medium to heavy weight weave; probably a non-stretch cotton sateen

COLOR SELECTION
I opted for a much darker brown than is usually associated with coffee. Partly because I drink my coffee black, also because coffee has none of that milk or cream that lightens the color when it's actually in the coffee maker. Mostly, it had to do with contrast. I felt a high contrast composition was most natural to my ideas.

ACCESSORIES
The accessories are what defines the function of the outfit of the time. The accessories (and hairstyle) for the business side are restrained. The shoes were styled after loafers, but with a nice professional heel. The brown color and white stitching ties in with the jacket, the silver buckle with the belt.

The accessories for the fun side are supposed to be more fun and funky. Oversized earrings and silver bracelet bring this especially. The boots, made of a stretch vinyl/leather tie in with the belt, and also add a hip, funky feel. I did consider adding color in the boots to tie it in, but ultimately, all attempts ended up drawing attention away from the rest of the outfit. The solid color balanced the composition with the top better without adding anything. The best way to tie things in color wise would be to use brown thread in stitching, not something that would really show up at this scale.

COLOR SCHEME
There's supposed to be a light dark contrast. The dark business contrasts the light of day and represents the more reserved. The white is much more bright and eye catching, especially in the dark of night. This also explains the color difference in the shoes.

I chose a much darker brown than tends to be associated witch coffee to represent strong maker black coffee. Partly because that's how coffee is when it's in the coffee (the lightening with cream and sweeteners happens later), partly because that's my preferred manner of coffee ingestion.

---

Okay, I think that's it. I'll add anything as I think of it, and hopefully edit this down a little better to the essentials.

Fashion base from here: [link]

For those that don't want to read that book of a description, I've now included a tl;dr version. :-P