No. SI1 (2025): Special Issue
Essays

SONIC PALETTE: An experimental exploration for inclusive fashion practices

Vidmina Stasiulytė
The Swedish School of Textiles

Published 14-07-2025

Keywords

  • experimental aesthetics; sonic fashion;,
  • sonic palette; inclusive fashion practices; alternative materials and design methods

How to Cite

Stasiulytė, V. (2025). SONIC PALETTE: An experimental exploration for inclusive fashion practices. Fashion Highlight, (SI1), 454–463. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3108

Abstract

We have a palette of colors, but what if we take sounds as a starting point for designing practice? What could be a sonic palette for sonic wear? This paper introduces new ways of thinking with the body in time and space as a sonic composition. It presents experimental research on fabricating sonic material using 3D printing on textiles technique for developing different sonic expressions as musical notes. This experimental Sonic Palette is seen as a way of bringing awareness about otherness, and commonness with those with visual impairment while exploring alternative possibilities and unusual approaches to materials. Sonic Palette introduces a new experience of wearing, nonetheless, it suggests an experimental language, extended vocabulary, and expressions in the field of fashion and textile design. Aesthetics of interaction and experience rather than aesthetics of appearance propose considering garments as musical composition and musical instruments. The expansion of sensory plentitude and expressiveness of materials with non-visual, experience-based, and time-based expressions is an example of inclusive ways of thinking, designing, and presenting fashion for example for those with diverse visual abilities.

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