• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.124-139
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to determine the aesthetic identity of modern eroticism fashion in which the energy of desire is maximized through the 'jouissance' and 'gaze' of the unconscious theory of Jacques Lacan. The research method derived aesthetic identity after examining jouissance and gaze deeply related to eroticism in Lacan's theory of the unconscious by analyzing data of domestic and foreign monographs and prior research. Case analysis was limited to 2000 S/S to 2022 F/W. Based on prior research, it was analyzed mainly on clothing with eroticism characteristics of 'exposure, close contact, see-through, the conversion of underclothes into outer garments'. Results of the study are as follows. First, eroticism, which can be linked to Lacan's type of 'jouissance' with multiple meanings as the generating point of eroticism, has manifested itself in voyeuristic eroticism, fatale eroticism, masochistic eroticism, surplus eroticism, and sacred eroticism. Second, as eyes of unconscious desire, visual expression characteristics of 'gaze' appeared as anamorphosis, trompe l'oeil, and dépaysement. The identity of eroticism derived from Lacan's jouissance and the perspective of the desire gaze was divided into voyeuristic desire to gaze, fatal desire to gaze, masochistic desire to gaze, surplus desire to gaze, and sacred desire to gaze. Results of this study will expand theoretical horizons of eroticist fashion with a new interpretation of eroticism by combining Lacan's desire as a repressed and alienated subject within the human unconscious with the art that expands it.