Fashion, Fiction, Function: Mediating Wearable Design through Fashion Film

Abstract

Fashion technology is an expanding field, yet the question of how technology can be considered fashionable remains unexplored. According to fashion theories, mediation plays a fundamental role in transforming clothing items into fashionable garments. In this study, we explored how fashion films, as one of the most important fashion media in the industry today, could make wearable design concepts fashionable by merging aesthetics, experience and fiction. By synthesizing research in fashion studies and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we sketch out a framework for producing fashion film for wearables. We then describe our own process of making a fashion film for a fictional concept, and reflect on our process of using the framework. The contribution of the study includes: 1) proposing fashion films as means of mediating wearable design concepts; 2) advocating a balance between fashion, fiction and function in fashion technology mediation; and 3) foregrounding the discussion of design mediation as part of the design process broadly.