NEW BOOK
NEW BOOK
Edited by Kat Jungnickel, Ellen Fowles,
Katja May & Nikki Pugh
Published by MIT Press
(Out in Sept)
In interview with: Sky Cubacub (on the cover), Karoline Vitto, Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, Dani Clode, Aheda Zanetti, Melissa Fehr, Ester Van Kempen, Nicolas Moser, Leon Baauw, Xuedi Chen and Pedro Oliveira, Emily Roderick and Georgina Rowlands, Sissel Kärneskog, Krista Suh, Helen Storey, Dewi Cooke, Lucy Orta, Samantha Fountain, Amelia Kociolkowska, Romina Chuls, Victoria Jenkins, Abiola Onabulé, Mimosa Schmidt & Debra Rapoport.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Wearable Utopias is a collection of thought-provoking interviews with cutting-edge designers who transform ordinary wearables into extraordinary sites of personal expression, public engagement, and radical political action.
Wearable Utopias explores the promise of wearables for reimagining social and political problems of today for diverse and inclusive worlds for tomorrow. Kat Jungnickel, Ellen Fowles, Katja May, and Nikki Pugh entangle science and technology studies, gender studies, and cultural studies with contemporary issues to highlight the role wearables can play in forging alternative paths through conventional landscapes.
Featuring twenty-three interviews with new and established international designers, this collection covers everything from coats designed to protect digital privacy to high-performing jeans that combat air pollution and to hi-vis cyclewear as a response to urban harassment.
Wearable Utopias offers insight and inspiration for students, researchers, designers, and anyone making things to wear who is frustrated with daily inequities and normative limitations and wants to do things differently.
The interviews in Wearable Utopias are organized into six key themes addressing a selection of pressing civic issues: EXPANDING (wearables that push physical, social, and political boundaries), MOVING (wearables that enable participation in a wider range of sport and activities), CONCEALING (wearables that defend privacy or keep secrets), CONNECTING (wearables that link individuals to large-scale issues); LEAKING (wearables that challenge the idea that urinating and menstruating are problematic or taboo), and WORKING (wearables that address inequalities in the workplace).
CONTENTS
Introduction: Wearable World-Making
1. EXPANDING
Rebirth Garments—Sky Cubacub
Body as Material—Karoline Vitto
Dress Tents—Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao
Third Thumb, Vine Arm, Materialise Arm and Synchronised Arm—Dani Clode
2. MOVING
Burqini—Aheda Zanetti
Fehr Trade—Melissa Fehr
Ride With Wolves—Ester Van Kempen
Petticoat Dress and Urban Blanket—Nicolas Moser
3. CONCEALING
Project KOVR—Leon Baauw
Backslash—Xuedi Chen and Pedro Oliveira
The Dazzle Club—Emily Roderick and Georgina Rowlands
I am THEM —Sissel Kärneskog
4. CONNECTING
Pussyhat Project—Krista Suh
Catalytic Clothing—Helen Storey
The Social Studio—Dewi Cooke
Refuge Wear and Nexus Architecture—Lucy Orta
5. LEAKING
Shewee—Samantha Fountain
Carrie—Amelia Kociolkowska
Qué Rico Menstruo (My Delicious Period)—Romina Chuls
6. WORKING
Unhidden—Victoria Jenkins
Iyá Àlàro (Indigo Dyers)—Abiola Onabulé
SÜK —Mimosa Schmidt
Advanced Style—Debra Rapoport
Conclusion: Making and Wearing New Civic and Social Futures
PRAISE
"Wearable Utopias is a revolutionary manifesto that will reshape why and how we design for bodies. Whether the interviews in this book affirm or inspire your design practice, this must-read for every fashion and product design student will help to ensure each piece you create will cultivate more survivable, thrivable and liberatory worlds."
Ben Barry
Dean of Fashion, Parsons School of Design
“An invitation into a vast and exciting world in which the smallest details – fabrics, colors, threads and patterns -- have the potential to instigate the most radical social and political change.”
Laura Forlano
Professor, College of Arts, Media, and Design, Northeastern University
Author of Cyborg (2024) and editor of Bauhaus Futures (2019)
"A fascinating and innovative book, Wearable Utopias demonstrates the radical purpose behind what we wear and the visionary possibilities of the dressed body"
Shahidha Bari
Professor, London College of Fashion
Author of Dressed: The Philosophy of Clothes
"Wearable Utopias is a treasure trove of revolutionary ideas. While the need to denounce exploitative labour practices and catastrophic environmental impacts is more urgent than ever, Wearable Utopias provides an inspiring counter-narrative for anyone who seeks to “inhabit” fashion as a form of resistance."
Alison Matthews David
Professor, School of Fashion, Toronto Metropolitan University
Author of Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present
“Wearable Utopias demonstrates how wearables can be world-making. Reading about these creative visionaries help us imagine pathways to kinder, more just futures and reflect the rich diversity of humanity.”
Timo Rissanen
Associate Professor, Fashion & Textiles, University of Technology Sydney
26 CREATIVE CONTRIBUTORS
Wearable Utopias features interviews with 26 international wearable artists, academics and designers: Sky Cubacub, Karoline Vitto, Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, Dani Clode, Aheda Zanetti, Melissa Fehr, Ester Van Kempen, Nicolas Moser, Leon Baauw, Xuedi Chen and Pedro Oliveira, Emily Roderick and Georgina Rowlands, Sissel Kärneskog, Krista Suh, Helen Storey, Dewi Cooke, Lucy Orta, Samantha Fountain, Amelia Kociolkowska, Romina Chuls, Victoria Jenkins, Abiola Onabulé, Mimosa Schmidt & Debra Rapoport.
