This study aims to analyze the expressive characteristics and aesthetic meanings of the uncanny in digital fashion, exploring its potential as a significant aesthetic device within contemporary fashion discourse. Drawing on theoretical frameworks by Freud, Heidegger, and Lacan, the study examines how digital fashion imagery disrupts conventional aesthetic norms through uncanny visual expressions that evoke psychological tension and perceptual ambiguity. A combined methodology of comprehensive literature review and systematic empirical case analysis was employed. A total of 96 digital fashion examples were collected from platforms including Google, YouTube, Showstudio and Instagram between January 2020 and March 2025. Selection criteria specifically targeted images exhibiting morphological variability, sensory instability, and ontological uncertainty, which are the three core expressive characteristics identified through both theoretical insights and empirical analysis. The results confirmed the consistent presence of these expressive characteristics in digital fashion works and further illuminated their aesthetic implications: digital fashion reconfigures the sensory framework, blurs ontological boundaries, and expands aesthetic experience by challenging viewers’ perceptual and cognitive expectations. In conclusion, this study deepens understanding of digital fashion aesthetics by systematically examining the uncanny within digital contexts and highlights the potential of digital fashion to expand aesthetic boundaries and possibilities for expressions based on sensory experiences.

This study explored the development direction of punk fashion through 3D digital fashion design by analyzing the expressive characteristics and inherent meanings of the punk fashion expressed in Vivienne Westwood’s creations. To this end, the concept underlying punk and its expressive characteristics were examined, and the eco-friendly expressive attributes of punk fashion were scrutinized through photos of Vivienne Westwood’s collections. The analysis focused on 10 seasonal collections showcased over the past five years, from the designer’s 2018 S/S to 2022 F/W collections. The results revealed that Westwood’s punk expression was characterized by traditionality, eco-friendliness, playfulness, resistance, and deconstruction. Traditionality appeared in the form of a harmonious redesign of classics to create new works, while eco-friendliness was manifested through the use of slogans and eco-friendly materials and methods. Playfulness conveyed positive messages through comedic situations or characters, and resistance emerged as a means of delivering messages for improving social issues. Finally, the deconstruction of punk was reflected as resistance, boldly destroying fashion structures to express dissatisfaction with society. Punk design in fashion is one of the avenues in which designers effectively express the messages that they want to communicate to society. This study is significant, as it provides foundational data for exploring punk characteristic design strategies to be used in future fashion. The scope of application for 3D virtual clothing programs is expected to expand in the fashion industry, and continuous research on digital fashion design is anticipated.