Shawl Collar Lab Coat

The inspiration from the shawl collar lab coat is fairly obvious, as it is in the name itself. The ANC collection is inspired by a summer in Iowa, where I interned in a lab as an electrochemical engineer. M-F 9-5 I was on my feet wearing a lab coat working alongside graduate students conducting research experiments. I really enjoyed the work I did that summer, and I wanted to pay homage to it in some way. I decided to create my own version of a lab coat, but to make it a bit more interesting than the typical coat. Lab coats are usually white and have a jacket collar similar to a suit, long sleeves, deep pockets on the front, and a vent in the back for mobility. As you can imagine, this is a bit boring to me and the question always echoed in my head "Why does no one ever make a 'cool' lab coat? For each collection, my intent is to create at least one womens wear piece. Therefore, I decided to create a womens version of a lab coat by taking inspiration from trench coats with a more cinched waist. Next, I wanted to reimagine the collar; lab coats almost always have the formal look of the collar, so I wanted to make it feel more like an outerwear jacket, thus I created the shawl collar on the coat. The jacket is pure white in color made of capri canvas, and on the outside, it resembles that of a lab coat. I wanted the jacket to appear subtle from the naked eye, but with many hidden details. To add in my own spin of farming culture to the jacket, I decided to incorporate gardening with flowers, and special buttons for closure. I decided that I was going to gift this jacket to my girlfriend for valentines day, which gave me the idea to use real flowers from bouquets I gifted her. To show them off, I glued them into a frosted vinyl TPU that I then sewed on the underside of the collar and sleeve cuffs. I made the flare cuffs longer than usual so that the primary intention is to show off the flowers underneath by folding the cuffs over. I then added two belt loops and a flared belt strap to give it a trench coat feel. I also wanted to give the freedom to make the jacket pop more by adding the ability to attach a wool collar. I did this with velcro sewed on the inner side of the collar and underneath the wool; it allows for easy attachment. The final piece of detailing, and my personal favorite, are the buttons. I discovered a user on Etsy that sells buttons made from real bull horns that are made in Austria. I would have finished this jacket within 2 weeks, but the final 2-3 weeks were comprised of me just waiting on the buttons to arrive. These buttons tied the entire piece together for me, as the buttons are made from horns of an animal you would find in a farming environment.