A new fashion range of clothes –  Garment+  – created by a medic at King’s could reduce pain and improve quality of life for people with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.

The research behind the new range investigates how conscientiously designed accommodative fashion can improve patients’ quality of life, reduce their suffering and give them back a sense of style, identity and control over their lives.

‘Fashion plays an important part in people’s lives. What we wear contributes to our sense of identity and wellbeing. This is no less true for people living with long-term MSK conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, who often have difficulty dressing due to pain, stiffness, fatigue, and restricted joint mobility’ explained Dr Lempp.

Existing studies have shown that people with MSK conditions see current ‘accommodative fashion’ as underscoring the notion of illness; that current design aesthetics are incompatible with their social lives or do not give them many options for how they want to look.

‘I harbor the hope that future clothing options will address the broader topic of user needs and therefore become more inclusive to often overlooked segments of the population. The input from the participating outpatients was invaluable; their experiences and first-hand knowledge guided the design process and enabled the establishment of new approaches to garment-wearing mechanisms’ said Alexa Chan

Find out more about the  Division of Immunology, Infection and Inflammatory disease research  at King’s and the  medical courses  on offer.

‘Garment +’  was a collaboration between King’s College London’s Department of Academic Rheumatology and Alexa Chan, brokered and supported by the  Cultural Institute  at King’s.