• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.55 no.7 s.98
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• pp.114-130
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• 2005

In postmodernism, the sublime that reaches ecstasy overcoming terror or pain is described as the most expressive phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to understand the sublime expressed in contemporary fashion. for this purpose, 1 investigated the theories of the sublime, categorized the definition and modes, then applied those categories for contemporary fashion. Documentary studies were conducted through aesthetic, design and fashion books and the demonstrative studies were processed by analyzing photos from fashion magazines. In the history of aesthetics, the sublime is explained as the ambivalent feeling mixed with pain and pleasure, terror and delight or negation and affirmation. In this study, the sublime could be defined as the aesthetic pleasure through the transcendence of the pain and terror and classified into 3 categories, the tragic, the initiative, and the deconstructive. The tragic sublime that includes the terrific, the disgusting and the religious character is expressed through the image of death or the physical torture, the satanic image or disgusting object and the ascetic image and religious sign or icons. The limitless sublime that includes the giant and the dynamic character is accomplished by consist of the elongation or the enlargement and the powerful authority. The deconsturctive sublime that includes the negative, the indeterminate and the complex character is associated with the deconstruction in style, the reversal of image and the destruction of the space of the body. Analysis on the sublime expressed in contemporary fashion may provide an excellent way for understanding human aesthetic consciousness in dress.