Abstract
Clothes and human body are inseparably related. Aesthetic consciousness of the body determines the form of clothing, reflecting the time and culture as well as the individual and society. Clothes can even reorganize the meaning of the body, while transcending their instrumental functions of protecting, expanding and deforming the body. Using 'body' to analyze the clothing form, my study develops a framework by which to classify transfiguration in fashion design. In order to inquire tile formative style and aesthetic values expressed in transfiguration in fashion, my study examines subjects from the discourse on the body to the fashion collections of the late 20th and 21st century. The results of the study are as follows. Transfiguration signifies absence of body which questions the three dimensional construction of the body in more conventional clothing system. Transfiguration is expressed in non-figural forms which implies metaphorical plasticity and abstract extensity. Transfiguration in fashion stresses a will-to-form rather than mere bodily proportion and structure, which explores trans-extensity that goes beyond the boundary of the body. Ultimately, this phase also betrays the correspondence between signifiant and $signifi\acute{e}$ in sartorial convention. Aesthetic ideal of the body is visualized in the form of a dress. Some clothes prioritize the body, particularly the feminine bodily curves, while others focus on the clothing itself as abstract and sculptural forms. Fashion continues to explore forms and images that transcend the traditional representations of the clothed body. As a type of intimate architecture, fashion always mediates the dialogue between clothes and body, or fashion and figure. My study suggests a framework to analyze bodily representation in transfiguration in fashion, focusing on the relationship between the clothes and body.