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  • A sense of space: the separation of dress and body in microgravity

Brownie, Barbara ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4101-1326, 2021, Journal Article, A sense of space: the separation of dress and body in microgravity The Senses and Society, 16 (3). pp. 373-378. ISSN 1745-8927

Abstract or Description:

In microgravity, the astronaut’s body is suspended in a void, separated from its surroundings except where measures have been taken to tether it to a surface. The experience of weightlessness can be characterised as ungroundedness – the feeling of being out of touch with surrounding surfaces. This sensation extends to clothing, which is suspended in the space around the body, not anchored to the skin as it is in normogravity. While on Earth, the weight of clothing on skin is a constant reminder of gravitational forces, equally, in space, the absence of the sensation of cloth against skin is a reminder that the body is located in an extraterrestrial environment in which the behaviours and sensations of everyday objects are defamiliarized. This article briefly considers the sensation of weightlessness from the perspective of the relationship between clothes and the body, and proposes ways in which these considerations could inform creative practice in fashion and costume design, and in depictions of the clothed, weightless body.

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17458927.2021.1977455
Subjects: Other > Physical Sciences > F300 Physics > F390 Physics not elsewhere classified
Creative Arts and Design > W200 Design studies > W230 Clothing/Fashion Design
Creative Arts and Design > W600 Cinematics and Photography > W690 Cinematics and Photography not elsewhere classified
School or Centre: School of Communication
Identification Number or DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17458927.2021.1977455
Uncontrolled Keywords: fashion; weightlessness; gravity; touch; space; dress; costume
Date Deposited: 09 Nov 2022 13:56
Last Modified: 09 Nov 2022 13:56
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/5185
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