Theories and Practices of Posthuman Fashion Design : Focusing on H.R. Giger’s Biomechanoid Aesthetics and N. Katherine Hayles’s Posthumanism

This study analyzes how the concept of the posthuman body is represented in contemporary fashion design, drawing on H. R. Giger’s biomechanoid aesthetics and N. Katherine Hayles’s posthumanism theory. Although emerging from different media and disciplines, both discourses share a critical stance toward dismantling anthropocentrism, reconstructing the boundaries between technology and the body, and exploring the potential of fluid identities. Based on this framework, contemporary fashion cases were classified into four categories: (1) dismantling the body and decentering the subject, (2) human-machine coevolution, (3) reconfiguring gender and materiality, and (4) dystopia and ethical transformation. The analysis demonstrated that the posthuman body is not merely a technological fantasy but a site where philosophical reflection intersects with visual practice, revealing the capacity of contemporary fashion design to propose ontological and ethical experiments. This study argues that posthuman fashion design functions as a practical discourse contributing to new subject formation at the intersection of technology, gender, and ethics, and suggests its potential extension into the domains of digital fashion, post-gender, and sustainability.