STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Hermes

let's figure out the details for this contest...

alb · Marc Jacobs

i love the idea of this contest - not b/c i will participate b/c i'm not crafty at all, but tons of posters are and i would love to see what they come up with for my own inspiration. to answer your questions, here's what i think:

can't think of another name other than "revamping your wardrobe" or something like that (sorry);

a month would be great;

requirements listed sound perfect;

i wouldn't set any parameters. at first i thought maybe a budget but then i think that might limit creativity. since the materials probably wouldn't cost that much anyway, i wouldn't do a budget requirement but it could be a factor considered in voting if it was done on the cheap;

re: whether the garment is on trend for spring - i'd suggest letting it play a small role, but again imo you don't want to limit people in case someone has a great idea for a winter item, for example.

HTH a bit!

Hermes

alb wrote:

i love the idea of this contest - not b/c i will participate b/c i'm not crafty at all, but tons of posters are and i would love to see what they come up with for my own inspiration. to answer your questions, here's what i think:
can't think of another name other than "revamping your wardrobe" or something like that (sorry);
a month would be great;

requirements listed sound perfect;

i wouldn't set any parameters. at first i thought maybe a budget but then i think that might limit creativity. since the materials probably wouldn't cost that much anyway, i wouldn't do a budget requirement but it could be a factor considered in voting if it was done on the cheap;

re: whether the garment is on trend for spring - i'd suggest letting it play a small role, but again imo you don't want to limit people in case someone has a great idea for a winter item, for example.

HTH a bit!

good points.

what I'm seeing is when we have all the submissions, I will create a post for voting. I'd like to have a set of parameters for people to keep in mind when selecting their favorite, like:

1. creativity
2. ingenuity in use of materials
3. on-trend
4. wearability

?

alb · Marc Jacobs

those parameters sound good. the only extra ones i can think of might be use of color or texture, but that could also fall under creativity. i think you've got it ironed out now!

AllieGurl · Marc Jacobs

oh, I cant wait - I am totally participating!

relrel · Marc Jacobs

Hmm, what about using a tag line like:

"New Buttons for Old Blouses- Giving Old Clothes a New Look"

or even:

"Green Wardrobes: Don't Buy a New Shirt, Buy a New Look"

And, this may sound silly....but using a similar scoring system as is used on the Iron Chef would probably work. For example, using your parameters:
1. creativity
2. ingenuity in use of materials
3. on-trend
4. wearability
Each person could get up to 10 points in each category and the highest total would win. Each voter would have to tabulate the score for themselves and then vote for the highest. Would that even work?

tara t · Marc Jacobs

i feel like i missed something...

can you tell me more?

Kelly · Hermes

I like relrel's idea - score each individual category for someone, which added together is one total score. Then if you make something that's not ultra-trendy for example, but your thing was really creative and wearable, your overall score may not suffer too much.

sydney · Kate Spade

Kelly wrote:
I like relrel's idea - score each individual category for someone, which added together is one total score. Then if you make something that's not ultra-trendy for example, but your thing was really creative and wearable, your overall score may not suffer too much.

Me too - great way to judge the contest

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

Should there be a category for how intricate / extensive the change in the piece is? For example, changing the tailoring of a jacket would have a higher score than replacing the buttons on a shirt?

Elle · Hermes

I dunno - what if the change of buttons on the shirt made a bigger style impact than the tailoring on a jacket? And, unless the person is doing the tailoring themselves I'm not sure that would be fair, or the point of the contest ... ? I"m not sure that the difficulty of the task matters all that much - it's the end product that counts!

Collette · Chanel

Man I wish I was creative!

sydney · Kate Spade

Collette wrote:
Man I wish I was creative!

Me too - I'll just watch

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

Elle wrote:

And, unless the person is doing the tailoring themselves I'm not sure that would be fair, or the point of the contest ... ?

I assumed that every contestant would have to do their own work for any alteration in the clothing. No?

But you're right, I guess the before/after category would cover the amount of work done.

Suasoria · Chanel

I'm excited to judge, but I'm too busy to participate!

I'd also like to know the age and maybe approximate price of the original garment, because I'd be inclined to give a better score to the successful redesign of something that is older or cheaper to begin with.

I don't know the difference between creativity and ingenuity - can someone explain?

Do we judge on execution, or just idea? Should quality/craftsmanship be a criteria, or is that too hard to judge from a photo?

Names...

Stylencore?

ReThread?

Restylathon?

Hermes

I like the idea of voting in each category. I am able to see the number of votes (but not the voters), so we can tally up totals that way.

I'm thinking of calling it The Threadstyle Project (a la Project Runway?) It's vague enough were we can use the title for other competitions in the future, and it's consistent with current ST terminology.

Ingenuity in use of materials covers someone using notions where they used in a way other than for what they were intended. Creativity is a broader spectrum that covers overall creativity beyond using notions in ingenious ways.