Kate Murphy standing with multiple store mannequins

From Fashion to Federal Government: A Design Journey

Kate Murphy
Coforma
Published in
7 min readDec 17, 2019

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In art classes as an undergrad, I preferred working in 3D using clay, wood, and metal to 2D disciplines like pencil and painting. With 3D art forms, I could go from throwing pottery on the wheel to making a pattern for a dress. I never saw the different mediums as having different rules — I just adapted to each medium’s unique attributes while working toward a similar perspective across the projects.

While art and making things was fun, it was missing a purpose, so I filled my next semester’s class schedule with courses titled “intro to ‘blank’ design.” I tried interiors, fashion, graphics, even industrial design.

While I was in the graphics class, I learned that each design choice can help people enjoy reading, and understand or gravitate towards certain text faster than others. In interiors, I discovered how community and culture can create more effective designs in places like the kitchen. Fashion taught me the purpose of fit and functionality — such as why clothes designed for working out need to be looser or stretch more than clothes intended to be worn to the opera.

Two mens outfits and two women's outfits displayed near illustrations of the garments.
Garments and illustrations by Kate Murphy

I found a reason to love every design program I explored. Ultimately, I chose the fashion design program, not because I loved clothes more than chairs or Helvetica typeface, but because the professors in the program were people I knew I could learn from and relate to. I worked on a number of jobs in the fashion industry after graduating, and I eventually accepted an opportunity to work on costumes for a film — in Hollywood! I was very excited to apply my skills to the new experience.

At my new costume design job, there were sculptors, 3D artists, and other costumers. We all worked together and would experiment with different materials to see if they would create the looks we wanted based off the sketches provided by the Lead Costume Designer.

There was so much creative energy and collaboration flowing through the work studio each day. I was challenged to use creative problem solving to develop and create the processes needed to build hero suits for movies like Black Panther and Deadpool 2. Navigating the materials, creation, and fitting of costumes onto actors while working with a team to deliver a design that met expectations taught me to deal with multiple stakeholders whose goals and needs were different from one another.

Paper patters laid out on top of fabric to be cut out. A rotary cutter and pins are on the table.
Paper garment patterns aligned and ready to cut out of fabric

Shaping, cutting, and sewing back together flat fabric to mold and comfortably move around the body is a unique design challenge. Understanding that the actors and stunt doubles would be wearing multiple layers of bodysuits and sculpted muscle suits underneath a skin-tight outer layer all while speaking, moving, and performing stunts creates a whole additional layer of complexity. Though I may not have known it then, this experience taught me the value of iteration and how the needs of the person using the item informed the design process.

Kate Murphy standing with a Black Panther suit on display during the movies opening
Kate Murphy standing with a Black Panther suit on display

As I worked on Black Panther, I also needed to consider how delicate the super stretch fabric was and the tendency it had to rip at the seams, while knowing if I didn’t exploit the amount of stretch it wouldn’t sculpt and wrap around the muscle suit in a way that would really show off those (foam) sculpted abs. On top of these challenges specific to fitting a single suit, filming schedules and the harsh demands of action scenes mean multiple suits need to be made exactly the same so that the suit you made doesn’t end up on one of those super fan sites critiquing a flaw found in the movie. This is where attention to detail and confidence in execution really come into play, but it was also where I learned about prototyping and replication.

Working in the fashion industry taught me to balance commercial and consumer perspective. It challenged me to create 3D translations of 2D renderings. I had to master timing and process, staying aware of when fabric suppliers and production factories had holidays that caused shutdowns and ensuring I secured the materials far in advance to prevent deadlines during production, while keeping multiple people’s expectations fulfilled.

I loved the creative problem solving involved in costume design, but I also knew that the costume team and atmosphere of the studio were not quite right for me. Working in costume design for Hollywood films meant there were hierarchies, stereotypes, and inequities everywhere. I began to discover small nuances and seemingly innocent phrases that I in turn began to realize were glaring microaggressions. I then knew I did not love the film culture but had not quite discovered where my comfort line was, and what was too far.

A close friend asked me what I enjoyed about each job I’d had since school.

What moments stand out to you when you were really happy about the work you did or a project you are really happy/proud of creating?

I struggled with this question. My answers had nothing to do with clothing, or costumes. I found myself telling them excitedly about the school supply drive I organized, and doing a service project with colleagues at a soup kitchen. I spoke almost romantically about how I organized office supplies and restructured the timeline of the design meeting schedules.

My friend helped me realize all the things I loved about the jobs I had were still using design, but I wasn’t enjoying designing clothing. I enjoyed designing the experience at the workplace for my coworkers.

I didn’t enjoy creating the Killmonger suit for Black Panther, I enjoyed making sure Michael B. Jordan was comfortable in the suit. I wanted to think about a person, and how that person navigates through using a product. That was the moment I learned about user experience design.

Close up image of Kate Murphy wearing Black Panther mask in the costume studio
Kate wearing Black Panther mask

Nothing had been the right fit for me career-wise so far because I had forgotten or been so segmented in my work that I had completely lost sight of the job’s true purpose: people.

I thought back to the fashion work that left me wanting more purpose. If my focus had been designing a dress for a woman that would make her feel more confident in her first job interview rather than simply designing a dress that had to be in X color palette and hit at least two of these five trends, would there have been more life, more joy, and more passion in those dresses? Would I have stuck with fashion design, rather than moving on to a new industry that valued people’s experiences more than directives?

Birdseye view of a denim bra with lace being constructed
Denim and lace bra in progress

As a designer at Coforma (formerly &Partners), whose mission is to build ethical technology products that disrupt the status quo through Human-Centered Design and research in the civic tech space, I translate my fashion experience into listening to our clients and absorbing what they say they need. I search beyond what is said to discover what the upcoming trends and ‘next season’s dress’ will look like for them. Instead of making sure the stunt doubles and actors can move around, jump, and roundhouse kick, I think about how accessible the text and color palette are in a document. These may sound like completely different tasks, but to me it feels like I’m growing the skills I’ve been developing all along. I’m looking at who my user is, what they need, and how I can adapt and strengthen my own design work to compliment those needs. Like anything new, it’s been challenging and there have been a few errors in translation to work through, but just as Coforma focuses on serving communities and people, I feel I am a part of a team that is also dedicated to helping me develop, build, and adapt to this new avenue of my design career.

As I look back and consider how valuing humans at the center of any design has truly changed my personal perspective as a designer, I am excited to continue to adapt and develop my skills and embrace the privilege of using design to improve moments in people’s lives.

GIF image of Kate Murphy while their hair is blowing in the wind

Kate Murphy brings nearly a decade of fashion and functional design experience to their role as Product Designer at Coforma. Kate focused their early career on the fashion and costume industries with globally known brands such as Urban Outfitters, Express, Lucky Brand, and Forever 21, while also developing a costume portfolio working in opera houses and on films. Kate was part of the costume team for Black Panther that won an Oscar for Best Costume. They earned a Master’s degree in design, focusing on how form and function merge seamlessly to create products that enhance a user’s experience. Today at Coforma, Kate works through design solutions by putting the user’s needs first, while synthesizing business needs and optimizing strategy for the client, the working team, and the user.

Coforma is comprised of cross-disciplinary leaders and works with a wide range of clients and collaborators within the civic tech space. Our mission is to build ethical technology products that disrupt the status quo through Human-Centered Design and research.

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