Design and Product Development

Vision Inclusive Clothing Design: A Study on Perception of Clothing by Visually Impaired People

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Abstract

Clothing and appearance affect how one projects themselves to society, how they are perceived by others and therefore hold a substantial role in fostering self-esteem. Not having an explicit vision of clothing including its aesthetic, functional, and contextual details challenge the self-assurance of a visually impaired person. After an intensive literature review a prominent gap is found in how a visually impaired person perceives clothing design through tactile experience and makes aesthetic choices. To rectify that gap, a multi-phase experimental procedure is developed to understand how people perceive aesthetic, functional, and contextual design features of clothing when their vision is temporarily impaired, deriving from Lamb and Kallal's (1992) FEA (functional, expressive, and aesthetic) theoretical model and presents design criteria to guide innovative and inclusive clothing design for visually impaired people. Using these design criteria can serve designers to create meaningful clothing design choices for the visually impaired person and all-inclusive garments design.

Keywords: Inclusive clothing design, visually impaired, tactile, aesthetic, functional, contextual

How to Cite:

Akter, H. & Goncu-Berk, G., (2022) “Vision Inclusive Clothing Design: A Study on Perception of Clothing by Visually Impaired People”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.16023