No. 7 (2026): The Languages of Fashion. Critical Reflections on Fashion Discourses
Essays - Experiencing

Shifting to a Narrative of Fashion for Attunement

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  • Giulia Ciola
Giulia Ciola
Iuav
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3933

Published 30-06-2026

Keywords

  • Attunement,
  • Affect,
  • Smart textiles,
  • Body-environment,
  • Fashion practices

How to Cite

Ciola, G. (2026). Shifting to a Narrative of Fashion for Attunement. Fashion Highlight, (7), 182–192. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3933

Copyright (c) 2026 Giulia Ciola

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The fashion industry is a major contributor to the ongoing planetary ecological crisis. In response, many brands have begun to address environmental concerns, driven in part by emerging sustainability regulations that call for interventions in material selection, disposal practices, and labour conditions (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). While these measures are necessary to mitigate the global environmental impact of the fashion system, they remain limited in their capacity to generate a deeper shift in the meanings and functions attributed to fashion by both individuals and the industry. This article reflects on the possibilities that emerge from understanding fashion as embodied practices (Negrin, 2016; Entwistle, 2000; Ruggerone, 2016; Eckersley, 2008). It asks what it would entail to reconceptualize the fashion system as a site that, rather than producing artefacts often critiqued as polluting commodities, cultivates material practices capable of fostering human attunement with the environment. Drawing on theories of affect (Ott, 2017), particularly as applied within fashion studies (van Tienhoven & Smelik, 2021; Ruggerone, 2016; Sampson, 2018; Filippello & Parkins, 2024) the article examines smart textiles as one articulation of fashion for attunement, focusing on the embodied design approach applied by Dutch designer Pauline van Dongen. While this emerging field holds significant potential, it also reveals important limitations, particularly in its predominantly human-centered orientation. This article instead argues for a broader conceptualization of fashion for attunement, inviting to explore its practices as tools to question and re-configure human-environment relational dynamics.

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