Lu, Show Your Work!
project

What am I Missing?

 no. 03 status open
brief Run every combination and find the gaps start date notes 1
← previously I learned what my best colors are
log.01

I have sketches.

I have colors.

But I have no idea if the wardrobe works.

How Many Outfits Do I Actually Have?

First, I asked AI to help me run every combination.

It came up with 560 unique combinations from 17 pieces.

1. bra + ao dai bottom + denim jacket
2. bra + ao ba ba bottom + denim jacket
3. bra + ao dai bottom + wool jacket
4. bra + ao ba ba bottom + wool jacket
5. cashmere + ao dai bottom
6. cashmere + ao ba ba bottom
7. ao ba ba top + ao dai bottom
8. ao ba ba top + ao ba ba bottom
9. ao dai top + ao dai bottom
10. ao dai top + ao ba ba bottom
11. cotton blouse + denim pinafore
12. linen blouse + denim pinafore
13. silk blouse + denim pinafore
14. cashmere + denim pinafore
15. ao ba ba top + denim pinafore
16. ao dai top + denim pinafore
17. cotton blouse + wool pinafore
18. linen blouse + wool pinafore
19. silk blouse + wool pinafore
20. cashmere + wool pinafore

…

549. cotton blouse + ao dai bottom + denim jacket + snow coat
550. cotton blouse + ao ba ba bottom + denim jacket + snow coat
551. cotton blouse + denim pinafore + denim jacket + snow coat
552. cotton blouse + wool pinafore + denim jacket + snow coat
553. cotton blouse + ao dai bottom + wool jacket + snow coat
554. cotton blouse + ao ba ba bottom + wool jacket + snow coat
555. cotton blouse + denim pinafore + wool jacket + snow coat
556. cotton blouse + wool pinafore + denim jacket + snow coat
557. cotton blouse + ao dai bottom + cashmere + snow coat
558. cotton blouse + ao ba ba bottom + cashmere + snow coat
559. cotton blouse + denim pinafore + cashmere + snow coat
560. cotton blouse + wool pinafore + cashmere + snow coat

I would take the number 560 with a grain of salt.

But even if AI got half wrong:

17 pieces → 280 combinations.

That’s a lot of outfits but it still doesn’t tell me whether I have the right pieces.

I could have 560 outfits and nothing to wear.

I need a different test.

The stress test

I don’t sit still for very long.

I could be anywhere doing anything: biking the Netherlands even though I can’t ride a bike because I made a promise to a friend, hauling a hopefully cursed molcajete back from Oaxaca, or taking my parents back to Vietnam before it’s too late.

I emailed Beaux-Arts Nantes a year ago.

No response.

I’m considering showing up in person.

Too many places for a lifetime, and yet something can happen tomorrow that pulls me in a completely different direction.

I need clothes that can follow me anywhere, on zero notice, for reasons I haven’t thought of yet.

I tested the wardrobe against three spectrums:

  1. Formality: Can the wardrobe take me from can’t be bothered to black tie?
  2. Temperature: Can the wardrobe handle 10°F/-12°C to 108°F/42°C?
  3. Activity: Can the wardrobe support me from becoming furniture to maximum exertion?

Every time the wardrobe failed, I marked the missing capability as a gap.

Let’s see what broke.

SPECTRUM 1: Casual → Formal

Level 1. Can’t be Bothered

Linen blouse worn with tap pants
fig. 1
LocationHome
EventSulking because the world has slighted me
OutfitLinen Blouse + Tap Shorts
Pass/FailTEST FAILED
Gap #1Clothes to Sulk
CommentsThis is the floor of the system. Barely dressed, 100% off duty. But there is no bridge between sulking and someone’s at the door without actually getting dressed.

Level 2. Casual Errands

Linen blouse with denim pinafore and denim jacket
fig. 2
LocationAix-en-Provence, France
EventGetting to Marché Richelme when it opens
OutfitLinen blouse + denim pinafore + denim jacket
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsWorkwear register. Breathable. I can bend, carry, sweat, squeeze through stalls, and come home with a bag of vegetables.

Level 3. Smart Casual

Silk blouse with denim pinafore
fig. 3
LocationMilwaukee, WI
EventFriday fish fry, old fashioned ordered press
OutfitSilk blouse + denim pinafore
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsThe silk says I made an effort. The denim says I am not trying to impress you. Dressed enough to claim the good booth, plain enough not to get side-eyed.

Level 4. Dressed up

Silk blouse and cashmere worn over an ao dai bottom
fig. 4
LocationChelsea, NYC
EventSomeone else’s opening
OutfitSilk blouse + cashmere + Ao Dai bottom
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
WhyArt-world camouflage. The silk and cashmere make it luxurious but the Ao Dai bottoms make it slightly unexpected. Blending in over dressing for the event.

Level 5. My Wedding

Ao dai top with ao dai bottom
fig. 5
OutfitAD top + AD bottom
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
Commentsoh… I can wear this to my wedding.

Level 6. Black Tie Event

LocationManhattan, NYC
Temperature35°F / 2°C
EventBlack-tie benefit
OutfitX
Pass/FailTEST FAILED
Gap #2Clothes for Fancy
CommentsI can do formal. I can do ceremonial. I can do Vietnamese formal. I can even do something beautiful enough for somebody else’s opening. But I can’t do strict western black tie which is a very specific type of evening.

Result: 2 Gaps

Gap #1Clothes to Sulk
Gap #2Clothes for Fancy

SPECTRUM 2: Extremely Hot → Extremely Cold

Extremely Hot 108°F / 42°C

Blouse and tap pants under an ao ba ba top
fig. 6
LocationLas Vegas Strip
EventLate-night drinks after a show, staycation with Jon
OutfitBlouse + tap pants + Ao Ba Ba top
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsNear-floor layering; ABB top does double duty: open outside, closed against the artic cold AC indoors.

Hot 85°F / 29°C

Ao ba ba top with ao ba ba bottom
fig. 7
LocationMekong Delta, Vietnam
EventVisiting the only family that makes LMA, to show them what you made with it
OutfitABB top + ABB bottom
Pass/FailTEST FAILED
Gap #3Clothes for the Monsoon
WhyFull circle. I’m wearing the clothes in Vietnam and bringing the material back to the people who made it. To wear anything else is insulting. But if a monsoon hits, I’m so screwed.

Las Vegas, NV

Cashmere piece with denim pinafore
fig. 8
Temperature72°F / 22°C
EventDrive-thru at In-N-Out
Outfitcashmere + denim pinafore
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsNothing in this outfit can be hurt by a Double-Double. Comfort first, low consequence dressing.

Mild — 68°F / 20°C

LocationKalocsa, Hungary
EventLearning to make goulash from a Hungarian grandmother
OutfitX
Pass/FailTEST FAILED
Gap #4Clothes for Kitchen
CommentsI’m about to cook goulash, which means oil, paprika, salt, splashes, hands in things, leaning over a pot, and wiping things with whatever is nearby. I have nothing to ruin. Grandma is extremely disappointed.

Cold 30°F / -1°C

Cotton blouse, wool jacket and wool pinafore under a snow coat
fig. 9
LocationSpittelberg, Vienna
EventMeeting online besties for the first time at the Christmas market
OutfitCotton blouse + wool jacket + wool pinafore + SNOW coat
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsFull four-layer wool stack. Warmth is distributed. Peelable indoors, built for real cold.

Extremely cold — 10°F / -12°C

LocationTromsø, Norway
EventAurora hunt
OutfitX
Pass/FailTEST FAILED
Gap #5Clothes for Bitter Cold
CommentsI’m going to freeze to death

Result: 3 More Gaps

Gap #3Clothes for the Monsoon
Gap #4Clothes for Kitchen
Gap #5Clothes for Bitter Cold

SPECTRUM 3: Sedentary → Activity

Sedentary

Cashmere piece with ao ba ba bottom
fig. 10
LocationThe Emergency Room, anywhere
EventWaiting, hour three, 4am
OutfitCashmere + ABB bottom
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsSoftness. Warmth. Clothes for becoming furniture.

Low Activity

LocationLiving Room, Home
Event11 Minute Repair tutorial, Hour 3
OutfitX
Pass/FailTEST FAILED
Gap #6Clothes for Mess
CommentsNothing is built to be ruined. Ironic because my life revolves around making and mess but here we are.

Light Movement

Ao ba ba top and bottom under an LMA trench
fig. 11
LocationParis, France
EventThe Vietnam rooms at Musée Guimet
OutfitABB top + ABB bottom + LMA trench
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsWalking a museum floor, composed and unhurried. Looking at what colonial France took from Vietnam, wearing what they couldn’t.

Moderate Movement

Linen blouse and wool pinafore under a rain coat
fig. 12
LocationAnywhere with turkey legs
EventRenaissance Fair, Opening day
OutfitLinen Blouse + wool pinafore + RAIN coat
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsWearing the 18th century Brunswick unironically at one of the few events that would completely understand it

Active

Ao dai top with ao ba ba bottom
fig. 13
LocationBuenos Aires
EventMilonga at 1am
OutfitAD top + ABB bottom
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsYou would think that any form of the ao dai would be super restrictive but the high armholes and the slit gave this serious dancing mobility. The ancestors knew what they were doing.

Vigorous

Cotton blouse and denim pinafore under a rain coat
fig. 14
LocationOaxaca, Mexico
EventHauling a molcajete through a thunderstorm
OutfitCotton blouse + denim pinafore + RAIN coat
Pass/FailTEST PASSED
CommentsBuilt to survive being leaned on, sat on, rained on and potentially cursed all at once.

Maximum exertion

LocationThe Gym, anywhere
EventLifting heavy enough to make the insecurities go away
OutfitX
Pass/FailTEST FAILED
Gap #7Clothes for Sweat
CommentsNothing handles sweat + full range of motion + not minding if it’s ruined.

I found seven gaps

FORMALITY

Gap #1Clothes to Sulk
Gap #2Clothes for Fancy

WEATHER

Gap #3Clothes for the Monsoon
Gap #5Clothes for Bitter Cold

DOING THINGS

Gap #4Clothes for Kitchen
Gap #6Clothes for Mess
Gap #7Clothes for Sweat

Now that I see them all together:

Two of the gaps are weather extremes beyond the thermal capacities of the materials I’m working with.

Gap #3Clothes for the Monsoon
Gap #5Clothes for Bitter Cold

One is a very formal situation with its own very specific language.

Gap #2Clothes for Fancy

But look at the other four.

Gap #1Clothes to Sulk
Gap #4Clothes for Kitchen
Gap #6Clothes for Mess
Gap #7Clothes for Sweat

HALF OF THE GAPS ARE WORK CLOTHES

I HAVE NO WORK CLOTHES.

Why do I have no work clothes?

The wardrobe can go to Paris.

It can go to Buenos Aires.

It can go to the Mekong Delta.

It can go to Oaxaca.

It can go from 108°F to 30°F.

It can do casual → formal.

It can dance.

It can museum.

It can wedding.

But: I need to paint a wall.

X.

Why?

Merriam-Webster defines wardrobe as:

Wardrobe (noun)
a : a collection of wearing apparel (as of one person or for one activity) — “a summer wardrobe”

Merriam-Webster

Yet culturally, when we talk about someone’s wardrobe, we usually mean:

the clothes they’re seen in.

Not:

the clothes they use to do things.

No Famous Dead Designer.

or Famous Living Designer.

or capsule wardrobe guide.

or runway collection seems particularly interested in budgeting a slot for: Shirt I Paint In.

Painting Shirt isn’t glamorous.

It doesn’t get photographed.

It doesn’t get taken to dinner.

It doesn’t get complimented.

So shove it into another category:

Tool

And suddenly clothing gets divided into two categories:

Fashion vs Equipment

That’s such a strange distinction from a making perspective because they are both garments built around the same body, solving the same basic problem:

  1. What does this body have to do?
  2. What does this garment need to survive while the body is doing it?

Chanel Suit and Painting Shirt have different jobs socially but structurally, they are the same thing.

Same making process, slightly different materials.

I have clothes for being somewhere.

Now I need clothes for doing something.

Let’s build the other half.