Electric Corset:an approach to wearables innovation

<p>One criticism of electronic textiles and wearable technology is that instead of being integrated into the modern wardrobe, the electronic garment is perceived as the ‘other’, as an ‘unusual’ item within the wardrobe. Contemporary fashion is a field of play in which individuals constantly manage personal expressions of social belonging and transgression, at the same time as it closes down the potential for new forms as a result of increasingly fast fashion supply chains. The Electric Corset project proposes that the uptake of wearables is compromised when development is based on modern categories of dress/dressing, and proposes that designers look to obsolete and ‘in-between’ items of dress to rethink the foundations of wearables development. In collaboration with Nottingham Museums and Galleries Costume and Textiles Collection, we have reproduced a small selection of such items, and recast them as ‘sacrificial’ toiles to provide a non-precious basis for embodied experimentation. The paper describes some of the barriers to innovation in wearable technologies, and frames our approach through the twin concepts of deconstruction and reconstruction in fashion theory. It reports on our experiences of embodied responses to the toiles within the making process, and presents early findings from a pilot study using improvisation.</p

Fit for purpose? Pattern cutting and seams in wearables development

This paper describes how a group of practitioners and researchers are working across disciplines at Nottingham Trent University in the area of Technical Textiles. It introduces strands of ongoing enquiry centred around the development and application of stretch sensors on the body, focusing on how textile and fashion knowledge are being reflexively revealed in the collaborative development of seamful wearable concepts, and on the tensions between design philosophies as revealed by definitions of purpose. We discuss the current research direction of the Aeolia project, which seeks to exploit the literal gaps found in pattern cutting for fitted stretch garments towards experiential forms and potential interactions. Normative goals of fitness for purpose and seamlessness are interrogated and the potential for more integrated design processes, which may at first appear ‘upside down’, is discussed

Developing future wearable concepts using archival research and E-textiles

This paper reflects upon an interdisciplinary design research project 'Electric Corset and Other Future Histories' developed by a creative team of design practitioners from the fields of textile, fashion and, product design. The investigation is being undertaken in collaboration with the Nottingham City Museums and Galleries whereby access to their archive of historical garments and accessories is facilitated through working closely with the curator of the Costume and Textile Collection. The aim of the research is to convey the value of accessing archives; the potential role for items of material culture from past lives to inform e-textiles and wearable concepts of the future. Based on the necessarily limited physical access to the archival materials, the research team has identified a unique practice-led research process that has informed the development of a number of outcomes that are both exploratory and experiential in character. This paper reports on two outputs that were developed as part of the project: an artistic film developed using collage and moulage techniques with textile materials, images of dress wear pieces from the archive, integrated with e-textile equipment; and two pocket prototypes, where pattern cutting and e-textile design knowledge were brought together. Both examples aimed to visually communicate the methods and technologies involved by reflecting the different embodied knowledge and skills involved, e.g. in recording, designing, making and interacting with fashion and textile materials. The two outputs demonstrate the benefits of working with archives of material culture and how the modular nature of historical dress can inspire new, interactive relationships between garments, bodies and accessories. Future work aims to develop this process further by creating a collection of networked garment toiles for exhibition, where audiences will be invited to engage physically with these items to experience the overall fashion and electronic design and construction process.</p

Wellbeing and smart textiles: Reflecting on collaborative practices and the design process

This paper reports on an inter-disciplinary, EPSRC funded research project, “An Internet of Soft Things” (IoSofT) which seeks to bring soft surfaces, smart textiles and wearable technologies to join the Internet of Things debate. The project involves researchers from academic disciplines: design, computing and mental health in collaboration with a project partner, the Nottinghamshire network of the mental health charity, Mind. This paper will reflect upon the research project and specifically the approach the authors have taken to collaborative textile practice and how this has impacted upon the design process. This project was conducted through a number of practical workshop activities with Mind service user groups. The workshops focused upon the crafting of personalized textile objects with soft switches and various output and also recorded the clients’ descriptions of their sense of ownership, awareness of their own and others’ emotions and behaviours. The workshops included the researchers’ reflections and observations to enable further understanding of how this community invests meaning in material things and modes of expressive output. The aim of the research project is to use textile craft practice and smart materials alongside therapeutic approaches to contribute to the development of a wellbeing and mental health toolkit to support future client work for Min