Wearing Technology When Fashion and Technology Entwine Lianne Toussaint Wearing Technology When Fashion and Technology Entwine Lianne Toussaint This research has been made possible with the support of: • The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) • Radboud University Nijmegen • Technical University Eindhoven • ArtEZ University of the Arts Arnhem • TextileMuseum Tilburg • Philips Research Eindhoven • MODINT • Freedom of Creation | 3D Systems • Solar Fiber • Inntex • Xsens Cover image Pauline van Dongen, ‘Solar Windbreaker’ (2016) in collaboration with Blue Loop and De Waddenvereniging. Photography by Roos van de Kieft. Hair & Make-up: Roos van Koningsbruggen. Cover design Rianne van de Rijt Graphic design Rianne van de Rijt Print Rianne van de Rijt / Proefschrift-AIO The author has made every reasonable endeavor to trace and acknowledge the copyright holders of the images included in this dissertation. If any proper acknowledgment has not been made, copyright holders are invited to contact the author. Wearing Technology When Fashion and Technology Entwine Lianne Toussaint Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 6 september 2018 om 14:30 uur precies door Lianne Toussaint geboren op 9 maart 1986 te Wageningen Promotoren Prof. dr. A.M. Smelik Prof. dr. ir. P.P.C.C. Verbeek (Universiteit Twente) Manuscriptcommissie Prof. dr. M.J.G.M. De Pourcq Dr. M.A.M.B. Lous Baronian (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Prof. dr. E. Giaccardi (Technische Universiteit Delft) Prof. dr. J. Slatman (Tilburg University) Prof. dr. R.L. Wakkary (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven / Simon Fraser University, Canada) Wearing Technology When Fashion and Technology Entwine Lianne Toussaint Doctoral Thesis to obtain the degree of doctor from Radboud University Nijmegen on the authority of the Rector Magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, according to the decision of the Council of Deans to be defended in public on Thursday, September 6, 2018 at 14.30 hours by Lianne Toussaint born in Wageningen (The Netherlands) on March 9, 1986 Wearing Technology: When Fashion and Technology Entwine Supervisors Prof. dr. A.M. Smelik Prof. dr. ir. P.P.C.C. Verbeek (University of Twente) Doctoral Thesis Committee Prof. dr. M.J.G.M. De Pourcq Dr. M.A.M.B. Lous Baronian (University of Amsterdam) Prof. dr. E. Giaccardi (Delft University of Technology) Prof. dr. J. Slatman (Tilburg University) Prof. dr. R.L. Wakkary (Eindhoven University of Technology / Simon Fraser University, Canada) Contents Contents Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 13 Techno-Fashion on the Rise 14 Crafting Wearables: Research Background and Context 16 Understanding Techno-Fashion: Research Question and Aims 18 Wearing Technology: The Central Arguments 22 Outline and Structure 25 1. Thinking Through Techno-Fashion: Theories and Methods 29 Navigating a Terminological Minefield: Definitions and Case Studies 31 When Fashion and Technology Entwine: Two Theoretical Approaches 38 Research Design and Methods 51 2. From User to Wearer: On Technological Embodiment 59 Addressing the Body: A Phenomenological Approach 61 Towards a Postphenomenology of Techno-Fashion 75 Between Transparency and Transformation 85 Conclusion 93 3. Flashy and Fleshy: The New Materials of Techno-Fashion 97 Material Culture 100 ‘Unmuting’ Matter: Postphenomenology and New Materialisms 111 Connecting the Dots: Towards a New Materialist Postphenomenology 120 Conclusion 125 4. Talking Techno-Fashion: Why Meaning Matters 129 Does Techno-Fashion Speak? 131 In Search of Meaning 136 Meaningful Matter: From Communication to Material Mediation 143 The Posthuman Wardrobe 159 Conclusion 165 7 Wearing Technology: When Fashion and Technology Entwine 5. Creepy or Comforting? Wearable Surveillance and the Quantified Wearer 171 Wearable Surveillance 174 The Disciplined and Docile Body 184 Living by Numbers 197 Conclusion 208 Conclusion 212 Terminology and Theories 214 A Methodological Adventure 216 Embodied Interactions: Between Wearer and World 219 When Materiality Comes Back with a Vengeance 222 Wearing Technology 226 Bibliography 228 Appendix 254 List of Interviews 254 Topic List Semi-Structured In-depth Interviews (Designers) 256 Topic List Semi-Structured In-depth Interviews (Wearers) 259 Images 261 Summary 267 Samenvatting 270 Curriculum Vitae 274 8 Acknowledgements Acknowledgments Can one wear a Ph.D. thesis? It certainly feels as if I constantly carried the ideas, inspiration, thoughts, deadlines, workload and arguments leading up to this dissertation with me over the past four years. In a way, this Ph.D. became like a permanent appendage to me that went with me wherever I went. But doing a Ph.D. would not have been bearable (and wearable!) if it weren’t for the many people supporting me and lifting my spirits along the way. The person with whom it all starts and ends is my supervisor, and the coordinator of the NWO-funded Crafting Wearables project that initiated my Ph.D. research: Anneke Smelik. Anneke has been my number one teacher, mental coach, and role model. Believing in my academic aspirations even before I did, she wholeheartedly supported me all the way from my newbie years as Cultural Studies student up until today. Thank you does not even begin to express the amount of gratitude I feel for all the trust, effort, intellectual power, time, and kindness she put into my professional and personal development. I feel lucky and immensely thankful for all the opportunities she has given me. I have been privileged to work with my second supervisor, Peter-Paul Verbeek, whose jovial smile, intellectual energy and illegible but (once deciphered) spot-on comments have been vital to my writing and thinking. Thank you for taking the time to read and constructively criticize my work, for the inspiring techno-philosophical discussions, and for encouraging me to step outside of my academic comfort zone. Thank you to the members of the Crafting Wearables project team: Pauline van Dongen, Lucie Huiskens, José Teunissen, Oscar Tomico, Ron Wakkary and Stephan Wensveen. Thank you for sharing your expertise and knowledge, and for your valuable feedback on my work. A special thank you to my Ph.D. buddy and creative hero Pauline. It has been an hon- or to share this professional and personal challenge with such a talented, strong and kind- hearted woman whose work has been a continuous source of inspiration. I hope to con- tinue our collaborations far beyond the end of this project. Marina Toeters definitely also deserves special mention. Her generosity, expertise, and continuous support helped tre- mendously in seeing this project through. I would also like to thank the research assistants and embedded researchers that temporarily committed themselves to Crafting Wearables, including Paola Tognazzi, Ralph Zoontjens, Maartje Couwenberg, Marina Toeters and Sif Drua Albrechtsen. Moreover, I wish to thank the professional partners that made this 9 Wearing Technology: When Fashion and Technology Entwine project possible, especially Koen van Os (Philips Research) and the TextileMuseum. I collectively thank all my (former) colleagues at the department of Cultural Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen for their continuous support and collegiality. They are the community of inspiring scholars that turned the eleventh floor into my academic home and made it possible for me to flourish as a student, lecturer and Ph.D. candidate. I especially want to thank Liedeke Plate, who was the first to believe in my teaching abilities, and who I greatly admire for her personal and professional perseverance. I wish to extend my appreciation to the (former) colleagues that have been my main academic mentors and peers throughout the years – a special thanks to László Muntéan, Martijn Stevens, Timotheus Vermeulen, and Puck Wildschut. My gratitude also goes out to the talented Cultural Studies students that so kindly contributed to this thesis in one way or another: Sara Kim Stoelwinder for writing a literature review that partially informed chapter three, Veerle Melis for participating in one of the user tests for the project, and student assistant Roos Leeflang for doing parts of the laborious transcription work. Furthermore, I wish to recognize Tanja Döller and Peter van der Heiden from the Graduate School of Humanities and Lisenka Fox from the Research Office at the Faculty of Arts, for their practical support and advice. Throughout the years, I participated in various courses, conferences, workshops, sem- inars, committees and research groups that helped me to further develop my academ- ic skills, network and thinking. The events and fellow Ph.D. Council members of the Research School for Media Studies (RMeS) deserve special mention, as they always helped me to put the challenging endeavor of writing a dissertation into perspective. It has been an adventure and privilege to go to New York City for a four-month research visit as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in 2015. I wish to thank Christina Slade and Rosi Braidotti for so kindly supporting my application for a Fulbright scholarship, and the Fulbright organization for offering such an enriching and valuable academic exchange program. I am truly grateful to Hazel Clark, Francesca Granata, and Heike Jenss for welcoming me as a Visiting Scholar at the MA Fashion Studies at the School of Art and Design History at Parsons the