Beyond Seeing: Fashion at the Intersection of Inclusion and Innovation

This lecture presents insights from the international research project Beyond Seeing (2017–2018), initiated by the Goethe-Institut Paris in collaboration with ESMOD Berlin, Institut Français de la Mode (Paris), La Cambre (Brussels), and the Swedish School of Textiles at the University of Borås, together with organizations for the blind and visually impaired. Irma Jokštytė-Stanevičienė and Vidmina Stasiulytė together with other project participants explored how fashion can be designed, experienced, and communicated beyond visual perception, focusing on touch, sound, movement, and other sensory interactions. Drawing on interdisciplinary workshops, collaborations between designers and visually impaired participants, and the outcomes showcased in the final exhibition at La Villette, Paris, the lecture highlights innovative design methodologies that challenge the visual dominance of fashion and propose more inclusive, multisensory approaches to fashion design and education.

About the speakers

Irma Jokštytė-Stanevičienė (Lithuania) is a journalist and broadcaster focusing on disability, accessibility, and inclusive culture. She is a co-host of the radio program and podcast Aklas pasimatymas, which spotlights lived experience, social participation, and the realities of disability in contemporary Lithuania. Irma is also active in public education and accessibility initiatives, including work with Dialogas tamsoje and related advocacy projects.

Vidmina Stasiulytė (Sweden) is a researcher, senior lecturer, and artist whose work merges the field of experimental aesthetics, sonic expression, and social inclusion. She received her Ph.D. from The Swedish School of Textiles, where she continues working as a senior lecturer and leading researcher of the project Sonic Fashion granted by The Swedish Research Council. Vidmina's research takes a radical approach to fashion by bringing the non-visual, temporal expression— sound; it critiques the defining and designing practices by suggesting ways to include marginalized and differently-abled bodies towards a more inclusive and democratic fashion.