“Stripping off the white coat” is recommended on the Mind the Gap blog at Nature Network. Jennifer Rohn reveals how she and her partner-in-design Wynn Abbott have devised a competition to challenge fashion designers “from students all the way up to celebs, to reinterpret lab coats for the twenty-first century”. The coats, according to the criteria, must still have a protective function, but they must also have a design that’s “fun, fresh, sexy and original”.
Rohn and Abbott plan to make a formal call for designs within the next few months, and to have a panel of judges make a decision from the shortlist in autumn. In addition to the main prize, they plan to give out awards for the best accessories, including masks, gloves and safety goggles. “So come on, people, pimp my coat!” Rohn writes. “I’m tired of putting on the same old stained, shapeless one every morning.”
If you would like to comment on the idea or see more details, including an elegant example design, see Jennifer’s Nature Network blog post or Nautilus.

Nature 448, xi; 9 August 2007