Bio
Genevieve Bell leads a team of social scientists, interaction designers, human factors engineers and computer scientists, focused on people’s needs and desires to help shape new Intel products and technologies. An accomplished anthropologist and researcher, Bell joined Intel in 1998. She has been granted a number of patents for consumer electronics innovations throughout her career, and is the author of numerous journal papers and articles. In addition to her position at Intel, Bell is a highly regarded industry expert and frequent commentator on the intersection of culture and technology. She has been listed among the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company in 2010, induction into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2012, and honoured as the 2013 Woman of Vision for Leadership by the Anita Borg Institute. Her book, Divining a Digital Future: Mess and Mythology in Ubiquitous Computing, written in collaboration with Paul Dourish, was published by MIT Press in 2011. Bell holds a master’s degree and PhD in cultural anthropology from Stanford University.
Portrait courtesy of Intel
Q&A
How closely do you follow fashion?
Design Museum
Just enough to be dangerous, and enough to know names and occasional trends. Truthfully, I suspect I follow celebrity gossip more. An embarrassing admission.
Genevieve Bell
Do you read a fashion magazine on a regular basis?
Design Museum
No.
Genevieve Bell
Do you consult fashion blogs?
Design Museum
No.
Genevieve Bell
When did you become aware of fashion?
Design Museum
As a kid. My mum made her living for a little while as a seamstress, and she was sewing some pretty high-end things. And I could get clothes made from the left-over pieces. I learnt to appreciate fabric, and cut, and the work that went into those things.
Genevieve Bell
How would you describe your relationship with clothes?
Design Museum
Complicated. I am acutely aware as a woman in the technology field, that I stand out from the moment I walk into a room, so there isn’t a lot of point dressing to fit in. That said, there is something about knowing you are always on display at some level, that makes me think about my choices differently.
Genevieve Bell
When did you develop your own ‘style’ - do you feel that you have one - what is your basic 'look'?
Design Museum
I think my style has evolved over time but I know it is really influenced by being on the West Coast of the US, being an australian, and being in the tech field. It is a little bit more relaxed because of all of those factors, and a little bit less rule bound.
Genevieve Bell
Do you have a preference for particular shapes, colours, fabrics or textures?
Design Museum
I have a preference for things that don’t require ironing, and that appear out of closets and suitcases and occasionally the pile on the floor still looking good. I favour black because it travels and because it requires less work. And fabrics varying with the seasons; winter makes me happy because it is wool and cashmere time; summer because I can have bare limbs.
Genevieve Bell
Who are your favourite designers and why (historical and contemporary)?
Design Museum
A hard question … my current favorite leather jacket is by Elizabeth and James, and it makes me feel invincible, but I also love my Doc Martens, Dinosaur Designs in Australia make my favourite jewellery, Margaret O’Leary my favorite jumpers, but I still shop in Op-shops and on ebay whenever I get the change … so it is always a spectrum.
Genevieve Bell
Do you use a personal shopper?
Design Museum
I have; there is an amazing woman in Portland, Oregon who talked me into jeans that actually fit me and I am forever grateful to her.
Genevieve Bell
How much do you involve your partner in clothes buying?
Design Museum
I am single.
Genevieve Bell
What percentage of your income goes on clothes purchases annually?
Design Museum
I have never calculated it, and perhaps I don’t want to.
Genevieve Bell
How many pairs of shoes or handbags do you have?
Design Museum
More than I am willing to admit or count.
Genevieve Bell
How important is hair and make-up to you?
Design Museum
Make-up is a minimal thing; I am lucky if I remember both mascara and lipstick in any given day. And my hair, well it is kind of a wild thing and also a signature. I rely on a decent haircut, and the faint hope that the weather will co-operate. I haven’t taken to colouring it yet, and the grey is slowly making itself known. A decision for a later moment.
Genevieve Bell
Do you buy seasonally or when the need or mood dictates?
Design Museum
A little of both.
Genevieve Bell
Is there a difference between your public and private wardrobe - if so, what are the reasons behind this?
Design Museum
I definitely have a work wardrobe and some variation within that. Standing up on stage, or presenting, necessitates very different choices – something to clip a mic pack to, something that moves with you, something photographs well, or at least clashes with the least stuff. My work wardrobe also almost always consists of heels; I am quite short and being a little taller helps. When I still did fieldwork regularly that was another kind of clothing all together – sensible shoes that you could remove at people’s front doors and at temples, things were modest and subdued. When I am away from work, I am a little less formal, and almost never in heels. I suspect it lets me code-switch a little between roles and subjectivities. And when I am home in Australia in the summer, it is a whole other set of choices.
Genevieve Bell
How do you view fashion and clothes in relation to your professional standing? To what extent does your professional role inform your fashion choices?
Design Museum
I think there are some very clear ways in which what I do informs how I dress.
Genevieve Bell
Does fashion empower you? What outfit would most empower you and why?
Design Museum
I am not sure this is the right question. I want to be empowered by what is in my head and my heart and that challenges what I have ahead of me and the tools I think I have to overcome them. I want to be empowered by the company I keep and the colleagues and friends I have with me. Fashion should not eclipse that; at its finest moments it should amplify those things, but those things have to come first.
Genevieve Bell
discover more
Faith, Fashion and Power in Muslim Dress
Fashion Historian Amber Butchart guest-curates a programme of three talks on power, dress and culture. For this event she presents Barjis Chohan in conversation with Professor Reina Lewis.
Power, Dress and Spirituality in West Africa
Fashion Historian Amber Butchart guest-curates a programme of three talks on power, dress and culture. For this event she presents Lorene Rhoomes, designer behind Akhu Designs, who discusses textiles and dress in West Africa, followed by a head wrap workshop.
An Evening With AnOther Magazine
To celebrate the new Spring/Summer 2015 issue of AnOther Magazine, the leading fashion, arts and culture biannual curates a special evening, dedicated to celebrating women and creativity.