Abstract
With the new millennium setting in, our society is plowing its way through more drastically changing currents than ever. Nowadays, many people believe that high tech such as the Internet, digital civilization, the IT revolution, bio-industry, and the genome project, that has brought humans material prosperity, is the right change in direction. However, the more we adopt high tech into our lives, the more we desire high touch in order to achieve a balance. In other words, we need something to act as a ballast to stabilize our minds. As such, the more high tech develops, the more individuals miss and search for tools that appeal to their emotions. Because of this, although high touch is an opposite concept to high tech, it coexists with high tech, and it is defined as "human contact of high sensitivity that stimulates the emotion of humans". High Touch, a term which originated from "High Tech, High Touch", a book written by American futurist John Naisbitt, refers to human contact that makes human life richer, forminga deep impression on individuals and providing comfort. As such, high touch, which is gaining significant attention in modern society, is a phenomenon occurring throughout politics, society, culture, art, and religion, together with high tech. Through high touch, modern people must realize how to understand and accept a modern society that is dominated by the age of technology and in which direction they should head. Under this background, this study has the following objectives: to interpret the concept of high touch in the age of high tech in association with formative art and fashion, and through various media examine the desire for expression that may stimulate emotion in modern people, which is required by the high tech-prevalent modern society. It further analyzes how high touch is reflected in modern fashion and presents the direction future fashion should head in.
