A Light Touch

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BACKGROUND Dressing the human body primarily takes place at the skin but there is limited research into relationships between dress, design, conceptual and corporeal skins, particularly through creative practice. Building on Handcock's PhD (2014) and the Laura Marks' (2000) theory of haptic visuality, the research explored how playful embodied material and tactile experiences of the body's surface can inform design development, within a context of public exhibition spaces. Handcock has previously worked with participants using body casting, generative design processes and temporal dress. This was a new approach to engage different sectors of a diverse creative and research community through practice. CONTRIBUTION The exhibition integrated films created in collaboration with Good John (Danielle Bongiovanni) and work extended from Handcock's PhD. Audiences could interact with works to create alternative surfaces and experiences of dress. Data was visually recorded for analysis. Initial findings suggest that playful embodied processes can be a democratic approach to co-design; acts of playful, performative making were driven by responsiveness to materials, and the body and exhibition as sites for conceptualising, testing and experiencing expanded modes of dress. This builds understanding of how body and exhibition can have embodied situated roles in design and dress to expand discourse around body- and skin-based practice. SIGNIFICANCE The value of 'A Light Touch' is attested through its presentation at the Melbourne Fashion Festival 2016 Cultural Program Project Series. Its selection for the largest national event for fashion industry and culture is significant evidence of fashion as an increasingly expanded field integrating cross-disciplinary practices and participatory approaches to design. Research findings fed into a paper for 'The End of Fashion' conference at Massey University, Wellington (NZ) and future projects.