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

This paper explores the emergence of “disgusting fashion” as a deliberate aesthetic strategy wi-thin 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 grote-sque 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 out-side, and the beautiful and the abject. Ultimately, disgusting fashion reveals how negative emo-tions can generate powerful aesthetic experiences, offering new ways to understand fashion not as adornment, but as a philosophical and cultural force.