ABSTRACT
War on period pain
Today Women Health Wearables are an emerging trend, but it’s still a challenge for designers and users to find the best way to integrate the smoothest way to the body. My fashion designer background inspired me to research possible aesthetical and practical wearable solutions, while my sensitivity for social and female issues turned me in the direction of giving additional values to clothing.
Period pain has different effects on the body, from the unbearable pains, cramps throughout to psychological pain and to shrinking self-confidence. Clothing is culturally and historically known as safe space and second layer on the body. In the future it should be a more important factor to maintain a safe environment and give new possibilities to humanity. The purpose of my research was to find internal and external solutions to the female body as, for example, to heal PMS, to block period pain without medicines and to give a positive physical appearance. In my interdisciplinary doctoral research I work together with medical experts and technology advisers. Somaesthetics places a value on the physical cultivation of the body, I find it relevant to understand a new way of mindful wearable technology devices.
Learning from technological references, advanced built-in technologies to natural fibers and smart textiles, my future goal is to develop the first prototype.
RESEARCH
“Traversing the Ridge: Connecting Menstrual Research and Advocacy”
Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
June 6-8, 2019
Introduction
The World’s female population is roughly 3.7 billion today and every one of these women experience symptoms of some form of menstrual pain around 450 times during their lives. This enormous number is more than enough to stand for the need for more open communication about the subject in order to find diverse solutions to ease these symptoms and develop new tools for wellbeing. The clothes we wear provide comfort and protection, they create a safe space and a protective layer around the human body. They also shape our everyday lives visually and culturally.
They are the most intimate extension of the human body, extending the thin external surface of our skin; they communicate to our temporary environment, while also impacting towards the inside of the body, to our somatic experiences. Technological innovation throughout history has created new perspectives for the human body and skin and had great effects on creative design.
My background as a fashion designer and years of experience in the industry lead me to focus in on new technologies, and to researching design solutions for women’s health issues. My hypothesis is that carefully integrated smart technology and skin-friendly material choices could turn a garment into a smart layer to help easing the symptoms of period pain, and rebuilding self-confidence, both physically and psychologically.
Problem
Taboos around menstruation and the stigmatization of menstrual blood exist in some form in nearly every culture. The collective experiences of unbearable pain, cramps and shrinking self-confidence during Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and period pain have a measurable economic effect on society.
According to Richard Shusterman, who is known for his contributions to philosophical aesthetics and the emerging field of somaesthetics, mindfulness and individual body cultivation should have positive collective effects on the problems mentioned above. Designing conscious wearable technology, personal daily experiences, and body positivity are important elements to achieve this goal.
The collective knowledge of garment making, as it was once known, has changed to an extreme degree in the past few decades. Today, amid heavy criticism of fast fashion designers have an important role to create new narratives in fashion. The fashion industry today operates in an almost linear way relying on wasteful, non-renewable sources. Industry stakeholders should take on the responsibility to transform the process into a more sustainable and conscious operation. In today’s artistic capitalism garments have turned into mere visual elements of the aestheticized body, losing the mindfulness of sensorial materials.
Research method
Technology has started to expand the body’s sensorial capacities and become a new invisible prosthesis of human body that connects it with the physical and cyber worlds. From the initial design research to prototyping, I chose an interdisciplinary research model, through which I collaborate with medical experts and technological advisers to find the way to the desired result of the concept.
The first part of my research discussed here focused on analysing women’s health wearables, along with medical and alternative period pain relief methods. I analyzed TENS Units (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) and wearable technology called Livia. Both of these are drug free relief methods that stimulate nerves to block pain and to relief cramps. All these are wearable solutions. As a fashion designer I choose garment creation and smart fabrics to find a seemless and more integrated way to the human body.
After a comprehensive material research, analyzing smart and organic solutions, I came to a conclusion that the most well balanced material choice would be able to heat, stimulate, and cure the individual and diverse pain areas.
Result
Consultation with Dr. Bertalan Meskó, founder and researcher at The Medical Futurist Institute confirmed that improved and more conscious design could help to achieve better adaptation of smart technology for the purposes of this research. .
Analysing the target audience: After the first prototype the concept should be tested from menarché until menopause. Involving users such as millennials in the design process and creating a customized, conscious product could help them to understand better how garments are made, and to deepen technology’s connection to the wearer.
Natural fibers such as wool, cashmere and silk are core elements of the shell concept. Silk, as a natural protein fiber, a known antibacterial material, also has positive attributions in body cooling and heating. Cashmere is perfect for structure knitting, it is a great at insulation, and it creates a tangible surface with good respiratory facts. These natural materials can be mixed to cover various areas of the body.
Menstrual cycle has a wide range of physical effects on the female body, such as sensitive skin, throbbing cramps, and bloating. To help relieve these symptoms a lightweight knitted flexible structures would be the most ideal. This knitted shell structure could also be integrated with smart technology. Integrated conductive yarns, circles and pads can be woven into the structure to be core elements for pain management.
Power supplies and the limited options for washing are the most challenging parts of prototyping. New innovations of self powering batteries such as biological fuel cells could be an effective solution. The garment concept should be spread into multiple fields. Designing built-in sensors and wireless equipments could be useful for pain tracking, while collected data could give real time feedback to the user.
Conclusion
New media and advanced wearable technology are reshaping social dynamics and privacy issues. Over the last couple of decades, people have become more and more aware of their well-being and the general condition of their bodies. Body sensor networks are embedded into garments to track vital data in order to help the user to develop a healthier lifestyle. . In this new era, psychological well-being, such as stress control and emotion regulation have become more important issues than ever before.
After laying the foundations and finalizing the design process my future goal is to build the first prototype and start the test period in collaboration with medical professionals. This research is an exemplary new way for fashion and design to reinvent themselves in an era of overconsumption and intense market competition. Technological advances, consumer interest, and interdisciplinary collaboration from a perfect creative environment for this direction of work today I am very excited to take on challenge. My goal is to support women to feel more confident and conscious during their menstrual cycle.