The research project Equipbody places the body at the centre of the relationship of the individual with the equipment needed for his/her daily activities. This equipment is a functional, sensory and communicative extension of the individual in the performance of self in a given society. However much part of our world now revolves in a virtual and immaterial dimension, we are still material girls and boys, and accessories primarily situated on our body are our best friends. The intimacy of this link directly influences the body, its posture and movements. Equipbody starts out by reviewing the contemporary situation of the body in our super-modern environment. In our cultural context dominated by the fascination for performance and connected technology, our bodies spend most of the time in a seated position, ubiquitously sedentary, and are perceived as inadequate and disembodied. Therefore personal equipment becomes essential in overcoming the super-modern body’s failings.

The research includes field research on the shoe and jewellery, interviews with personal equipment designers (jewellery, shoes, watch, bags, gloves, sports’ apparel) and museum curators. Scientific literature in anthropology and sociology was also referenced. The research team purposely explored non-connected equipment. Historically, major innovations in the field of dress and accessories came through new uses and perceptions of the body rather than from innovative objects. Equipbody develops the hypothesis that accessories have now taken precedence over the super-modern body in a contemporary culture obsessed with performance. Visual charts illustrating this relationship have been developed within this theoretical framework; they can be applied in teaching, museology and design processes.

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