Lianne Toussaint researches the emerging phenomenon of 'techno-fashion': garments that fuse technological functionalities with the aesthetic, expressive, critical, and communicative roles of fashion. Such entwinement of fashion and technology no longer exclusively belongs to a fantasy world but has become the driving force behind a wave of innovations in the field of fashion. Flexible solar cells that turn a coat into a sustain-able battery charger, a jacket that warns against air pollution, a shirt that sends hugs over distance, or trousers that help to correct your posture; they now all exist in real life. Scholars and market forecasts agree that this specific subfield of wearable technology is likely to affect our lives on a personal as well as societal level. Yet while the long-term effects of merging technology and fashion are expected to change our relation to ourselves and others, little is known about its potential and impact. How does the combination of fashion and technology transform the nature, value and meaning of fashion and clothing? What does it mean to not just use, but also wear technology in everyday life?
Toussaint lectures a variety of topics, including fashion, technology and culture, gender, visual culture and cultural theory. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2018 at Radboud University Nijmegen with her dissertation Wearing Technology: When Fashion and Technology Entwine. Her Ph.D. research is the result of the interdisciplinary research project 'Crafting Wearables; Fashionable Technology' (2013-2018) funded by the national research organisation NWO. She previously obtained a BA in Cultural Studies at Radboud University and MA degree in Photographic Studies at Leiden University (2010).