The Challenge

"Keep in mind that you're not creating clothes that *you yourself* would want to wear. Your task in this Viridian Couture Contest is to create a formal, distinctive, 21st century subcultural caste costume for rich male computer geeks. You have to imagine rich millionerds, Microserfs and Dellionaires actually buying this stuff == (well no, you have to imagine their wives buying it for them) == but you have to imagine them feeling genuinely *proud to wear it* and being totally convinced that it was *really ultramodern, sophisticated and cool.*" -- Bruce Sterling

Design Essentials

• Men's formal wear hasn't changed drastically for more than a century, and I wouldn't bet that it's going to soon. Not only that, it's specified that we have to imagine people *actually buying* the clothes. So they can't be too outre.
• The clothes have to scream conspicuous wealth in order to be a caste symbol for rich people.
• The clothes have to be Viridian -- which doesn't mean that they actually *do* anything, but which means that they embrace an organic look and an aestheticization of sensory input. Not to mention embracing decay.

My Response

The Asymmetric Suit has inwoven strands in a random, suggestively organic style, in a unique pattern for each suit. Those strands, of a light silvery or gray color, cover the right side of the suit except for the lapel and the most of the arm. The pattern must be changed slightly each year in order to keep up with the style, thus "decaying", and the unique pattern requires either expensive hand weaving or some kind of computerized pattern generator. In either case, you're not getting this cloth off a rack. The strands suggest circuitry, but they must have an appearance of organic growth, not a squared off look.

The left side of the suit has a single vertical Viridian green stripe, to contrast with the other side and make the wearer look taller and thinner.

Accessories include a lorgnette, made of the thinnest titanium possible, that holds infrared glasses or some other high-tech sensor. Competition can occur among wearers of the suit about how up-to-date and interesting their lorgnettes are, and the standard way to attract demimondaines will be to hold them out and say "Have a look?".

Unfortunately for me, I have to offer a picture. Since I have no skill whatsoever with graphic design, all I could do was supply this extremely cheesy modification of a picture of Bruce Sterling.