Designing intimate wearables to promote preventative health care practices.

In this paper we explore the design of intimate wearables as a new research direction to promote preventative care practices. We describe Intimates, a speculative wearable e-textile intended to support breast self-awareness. With Intimates, we propose that everyday lifestyle items, such as clothing, can contribute to promote wellness and education about hidden and taboo parts of the body. We suggest that by combining novel interactions and technologies within intimate apparel, these wearables can offer casual and relaxed interfaces to enable self-care.