Sensory Nourishment Consciously crafting sensations in clothing design to support diverse sensory needs

Aggressive, rapid design processes that dominate commercial fashion design practices fail to see the value in slowing down. Such a model does not allow time or space for designers to reflect, experiment or question the fashion system. I see my doctoral design driven research as a privileged opportunity that allows space and time for such reflection, experimentation and questioning. DDr allows me to engage with and attend to my own body and those of my participants: it’s sensations, feelings, emotions, and values. Through my collaboration with participants on the autism spectrum I can present a case study that illustrates the value in slowing down and its collective benefit to universal well-being.

That is not to say that these considerations do not exist in less dominant fashion design practices, however, their methodologies are relatively undocumented. In my own training as a tailor, both my clients’ and my own bodily experiences were intuitively engaged in the design process through material selection, garment fittings, and conversations about their everyday routines and well-being. It may seem counterintuitive to intellectualise this tacit knowledge in academia but, as highlighted in my abstract, there is a necessity to gather knowledge on how fashion design processes contribute to the well-being of the end-wearer. The integration of DDr methods into more dominant industry practices can stimulate discourse and inspire better ways of working that considers this contribution.