Work

Speculative sewing: Researching, reconstructing, and re-imagining wearable technoscience

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: This article contributes to Science and Technology Studies (STS) literatures on 'making and doing' by describing and analysing the practice of researching, reconstructing, and reimagining archival clothing patent data. It combines feminist speculation and reconstruction practices into what I term 'speculative sewing'. This involves stitching data, theory and fabric into inventions described in patents and analysing them as three-dimensional arguments. In the case here, of 1890s British women's convertible cycle wear, I examine how inventors used new forms of clothing to challenge socio-political restrictions on women's bodies in public space and help them make alternate claims to rights and entitlements. I argue that translating text and images into wearable data renders lesser-known technoscience stories visible and (more) knowable and transforms clothing (back) into material matters of public concern.

Source: Social Studies of Science

DOI: 10.1177/03063127221119213

Author: Kat Jungnickel

Institution: Goldsmiths University of London

Language: English

Topic: Fashion and Cultural Textiles

Subfield: Museology

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,250

Funders: Intel Corporation, European Commission, Economic and Social Research Council, H2020 European Research Council