Clothing, as a signsystem, implies many different meanings according to different circumstances. Korean fashion designers’ designs also imply various meanings. Therefore, the purpose of this study is the exploration of Korean fashion designers’ design characteristics through Greimas’ Semiotic Square. As sublimity is the most representative characteristic of modern fashion design, this study discusses the in-depth aesthetic meaning innated in Korean fashion design through the semiotic square proposed by Greimas. To fulfill this goal, Korean fashion designers were sought after on the internet; consequently, four Korean designers became subjects for the analysis. Their collections were analyzed according to predefined criteria adopted and modified from previous studies. Sublimity characteristics were applied to Greimas’ and Floch’s semiotic squares for further interpretation. Results of the study indicate that sublimity, which is typically found in Korean fashion designs, varies depending on different points of view. In terms of culture, this study discovered a relationship of contrariety between sublimity and beauty. This finding opposes the theory of Greimas’ semiotic square, in which sublimity stands as a contradictory of the technician. According to the culture industry theory, suggested by Held, the technician is an implication of sublimity. Through a technician, sublimity may pose as a complementarity or implication of beauty. Finally, sublimity might substitute beauty as well; furthermore, it constitutes practical valorization in the semiotic square of Floch. Moreover, the artist present as a ludic valorization stands as a contradictory, while art, serving as a utopian valorization, enacts as a contrary.

Both religions and literature/the arts have the same purpose--to liberate our mind from the limited ontological domain of the ego and reach infinity, the dimension of genuine love, and thus to attain true wisdom beyond the binary opposition of will, intention, and concepts that cause conflicts and struggle. The goal of religions and literature is to make us to deeply experience the real Self, which is the ultimate reality or universal Truth. This paper first discusses the Buddhist notion of Emptiness and Levinas, whose theory embraces Judaism and Christianity. Then the Kantian sublime is discussed as the most profound aesthetic impetus on the reader’s mind. The last part presents my reading of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde. By showing the disappearance of the polar opposites, Jecyll and Hyde, the novella leads the reader to the sphere of the sublime where the reader experiences the spiritual feeling that detaches her/him from ontological perception and conceptualization.