Traditional Aesthetic Characteristics Traced in South Korean Contemporary Fashion Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to look at the aesthetic characteristics embedded in Korean traditional artifacts to examine how these characteristics have been rejuvenated in contemporary Korean fashion. Traditional Korean aesthetic characteristics were categorized into four areas: pure formality, naturalistic simplicity, symbolic decoration, and playful spontaneity. The examples of fashion design which represent these four aesthetic characteristics were found mainly in fashion collections of Korean designers such as Lie Sangbong and Lee Young Hee. Examples were also drawn from fashion products from Minja Kim's fashion design research laboratories at Seoul National University. The framework of the four aesthetic characteristics has shed light on how the aesthetic values of the past have been passed down to contemporary fashion design practice. Moreover, eclectic crossover features were found in contemporary fashion practice. There is a combination of past and present, Korean and Western, high culture and popular culture, and fashion and art. These features parallel the characteristics of postmodern fashion. However, Korean philosophy, ideas, and values as represented in the four aesthetic characteristics of Korean culture are embedded in the traditional cultural images that have been redesigned in contemporary fashion practice.