ACM Interactions

Authors:
Zaiqiao Ye, Zitao Zhang, Eli Blevis

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A capsule wardrobe is a collection of clothes with a limited number of items that have good qualities. It requires people to take an introspective approach when buying, wearing, and recycling clothes. What follows is an illustrated design fiction that describes the procedure of creating a capsule wardrobe with the help of a set of musical hangers that use IoT technology. We created the design fiction through scriptwriting, role-playing, taking photographs, and processing images. We present the illustrated design fiction as a means of understanding the complex design space of capsule wardrobes and as a way of reflecting on and refining the musical hangers.

  Illustrated Design Fiction

 1 Background

Fiona is a designer working for a company. She is interested in the concept of a capsule wardrobe, but never had the chance to apply it. Previously, she did not organize her wardrobe regularly; some of her clothes were buried in her wardrobe and were never considered when she selected outfits.

Fiona's friend Toby sends a set of musical hangers to Fiona. This musical hanger set is called Minnie. She told her that Minnie could help her with forming a capsule wardrobe. Fiona is very happy to try Minnie. Her friend told her that Minnie is easy to use and that it will play musical fragments in some situations.

At first, Fiona decides to pick out nine articles of clothes from her current wardrobe for the autumn season. Her goal is to create seven different outfits with these nine items.

The first item she picks is a basic-style white shirt. While she is hanging the shirt, Minnie uses NFC recognition to record that it bears this shirt.

After two hours, Fiona has selected nine articles of clothing. Since she only has six Minnies, she uses Minnie to hang tops. Now, she is looking forward to adopting a minimalist fashion lifestyle.

On Monday, Fiona wakes up. After breakfast, she opens the wardrobe and says, "Hi Minnie."

All Minnies play a distinct note from a musical fragment in sequence. Fiona can quickly pay attention to each item of clothing (only tops in this case).

Fiona takes out one article of clothing—a brown trench coat. Detecting that Fiona is holding it, Minnie plays a classic piano musical fragment. The musical fragment is like an ID for each item of clothing. Each time Fiona holds a particular item, Minnie plays the same musical fragment.

She puts the coat back and takes out a dark-green jacket. The Minnie plays another musical fragment. Fiona is satisfied with the jacket because she plans to go hiking with friends today.

It's another day of the week. After breakfast, Fiona opens the wardrobe and says, "Hi Minnie!" Still, each Minnie plays a distinct note from a musical fragment in sequence.

For today's schedule, most of the time she needs to work from home. But at night, she plans to attend an online yoga lesson. She might need to change her clothes in the middle of the day.

Fiona takes out one basic-style white shirt and a pair of suit pants to wear at first.

At night, Fiona realizes that her capsule wardrobe needs a yoga suit. She organizes her capsule wardrobe again and adjusts the items.

After using Minnies for one month, Fiona's capsule wardrobe becomes stable. One day she brings home a new white shirt. She was very happy shopping with her friends and made a purchase.

Fiona hangs her new white shirt on a Minnie.

When Fiona opens the closet door, a Minnie that already bears an older white shirt welcomes Fiona with a nonsense noise.

Fiona thinks to herself, I know the Minnies may be unhappy with one more white shirt, but this one is special; it has some nice details on its sleeves. Fiona knows that Minnies don't really judge her, but her interaction with Minnie helps her reach a resolution to sell or donate the old shirt in order to keep the new one she likes so much.

After the trial and iteration, Fiona finally gets her capsule wardrobe for autumn.

Similarly, she forms her winter capsule wardrobe later on. Some items are from the autumn wardrobe, so that she can make use of her clothes efficiently.

Fiona is satisfied with her capsule wardrobe. She sorts out the clothes that she won't wear again. She wants to sell or donate these clothes.

For some expensive clothes, Fiona decides to sell them online. Selling clothes online can increase the carbon footprint associated with shipping. She only sells online two expensive items of clothing that she no longer needs.

  Authors

Zaiqiao Ye is a third-year doctoral student at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. Her main research interest lies at the intersection of fashion and technology. [email protected]

Zitao Zhang is a Ph.D. student in human-computer interaction design (HCI/d) at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. His research interest is in musical interfaces for amateur musicians. He also works in the field of digital fabrication and physical prototyping. [email protected]

Eli Blevis is a professor of informatics in human-computer interaction design (HCI/d) at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. His primary area of research, and the one for which he is best known, is sustainable interaction design. His research also engages visual thinking, including the photographic foundations of HCI and design theory, especially transdisciplinary design. [email protected]

 

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