Response-able costume design practices in extended reality

Doctoral research in the department of
Arts, Design, and Architecture at Aalto University
Costume in Focus Research Group

Virtual Costume Workshop

Dec 15 & 16, 2026
Espoo, Finland

This workshop explores how virtual costumes "fit" on actual bodies. Over two days, we will learn how to make costumes out of digital 3D models and “try them on” in extended reality. Rather than manipulating the digital materials to mimic their analog counterparts, we will explore their own unique material potential. Bring a laptop, a charger, a mouse, and an open mind as we jump into the exciting world of virtual costume design!

Express your interest in participating

Enmeshed

An extended reality experience that explores how virtual costume can shape the space between two bodies through play.

Aim + Objective

Investigate response-able design practices in virtual embodiment

by designing responsive costumes in extended reality

Theoretical Framework

Cyberfeminism
(Haraway, 1991; 2016)
New Materialism
(Barad, 2007; Malafourais, 2026)

Response-ability to weave
intra-actions between
bodies and technologies
for a better future.

Desiging virtual costumes for physical bodies

A VR demo project that explores the creative expressive potential of costume design in virtual reality.

Screen recording of first-person perspective "wearing" a virtual costume.

Method

I am crafting costumes with 1's and 0's, 'costume thinking' with extended reality technologies, to investigate how virtual materiality entangles with human presence.

Re-embodied vision

A case study that examines virtual costume practice through the lense of Donna Haraway's 1991 essay on situated knowledges.

External recording and screen recording of first-person perspective "wearing" a virtual costume.

Screen recording of the virtual body (by MOVERSE) wearing the costume.

Results

This research advances costume studies, HCI, and artistic research by practicing and critically examining new possibilities for costume in extended reality. When we know how virtual materials can shape meanings and bodies, practitioners can be ethical with the agencies they create through extended reality technologies.

This research will cumulate in a doctoral thesis for the department of Arts, Design, and Architecture at Aalto University.

References

Barad, Karen. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388128.

Barbieri, Donatella, and Melissa Trimingham. Costume in Performance: Materiality, Culture, and the Body. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474285353.

Candy, Linda. The Creative Reflective Practitioner: Research through Making and Practice. Routledge, 2020.

Doyle, Denise. Digital Embodiment and the Arts: Exploring Hybrid Spaces through Emerging Technologies. Intellect, 2024.

Haraway, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. Routledge, 1991. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203873106.

Haraway, Donna. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016.

Höök, Kristina. Designing with the Body: Somaesthetic Interaction Design. The MIT Press, 2018.

Malafouris, Lambros. People Are STRANGE: Material Engagement and the Creation of Self-Consciousness. The MIT Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10284.001.0001.

Marshall, Susan. Insubordinate Costume: Inspiring Performance. Focal Press, 2024.

Monks, Aoife. The Actor in Costume. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Østergaard, Charlotte. Crafting Material Bodies – Exploring Co-Creative Costume Processes. Research Catalog, 2025. https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3184425/3219026/3132/8746.

Pantouvaki, Sofia. “Researching with and through Costume.” In Insubordinate Costume, 1st ed., by Susan Marshall. Focal Press, 2024. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003341000-11.

Schön, Donald A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books, 1983.

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