No. SI1 (2025): Special Issue
Essays

Negative Aesthetics and the de-beautification of Fashion: The Taxonomy of Disgusting Fashion

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  • Danae Ioannou
Danae Ioannou
Cyprus University of Technology/ Mediterranean College
Bio
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3173

Published 14-07-2025

Keywords

  • negative aesthetics,
  • fashion,
  • disgust,
  • taxonomy,
  • art

How to Cite

Ioannou, D. (2025). Negative Aesthetics and the de-beautification of Fashion: The Taxonomy of Disgusting Fashion. Fashion Highlight, (SI1), 148–155. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3173

Copyright (c) 2025 Danae Ioannou

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This paper explores the emergence of "disgusting fashion" as a deliberate aesthetic strategy within contemporary design, positioning it within the frameworks of Negative Aesthetics, abjection, and art-horror. Drawing on philosophical theories from Georges Bataille, Julia Kristeva, Carolyn Korsmeyer, and Noel Carroll, the paper examines how fashion engages with disgust not simply as a reaction, but as a generative force that challenges normative ideals of beauty, identity, and the body. Using Carroll and Contesi’s taxonomy of disgust in art, the study proposes a tripartite framework for analyzing garments based on whether their subjects and/or materials (vehicles) evoke disgust. Through case studies of designers such as Alexander McQueen, Lady Gaga, Alessandro Michele, and Michaela Stark, the paper demonstrates how fashion utilizes grotesque materials, symbolic violence, and bodily excess to provoke visceral responses and engage in sociopolitical critique. It argues that the incorporation of disgust functions as a transformative tool—destabilizing traditional boundaries between the self and the other, the inside and the outside, and the beautiful and the abject. Ultimately, disgusting fashion reveals how negative emotions can generate powerful aesthetic experiences, offering new ways to understand fashion not as adornment, but as a philosophical and cultural force.

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References

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