A Study on the Change of Underclothes Culture by Patterns of Wearing

옷입기 양식을 통해 본 속옷문화의 변화

What human beings wear is closely related to how they conceptualize their bodies and how they classify the group they belong to and the way they wear their cloth s an important cultural element that shows wearers' awareness and social relationship. Especially, underclothes reflect unrevealed cultural inside of the society more abundantly than outer wear do. Through such characteristics of underclothes, we are able to better understand inherent order of culture. This study si to understand the characteristics and changes of Korean culture by reviewing the convention of underclothes wearing that takes important role in clothing without being explicitly revealed. For this study, in addition to biblical review of under clothes of traditional societies, a total of 301 college students aging from 19 to 28, who are the most open to accepting new cultures and changes, residing in Seoul area were participant. Questionnaire consists of open-ended questions of underclothes terms, kinds, why they wear, items of wearing, how they obtained, how they take care of, etc. In conclusion, changes in cultural meaning of underclothes analyzed through convention of underclothes wearing are as follows; 1) changes in wearing pattern implies changes in functions of underclothes and changes in members' roles and values in a society; 2) changes in recognition of underclothes are related to the changes in awareness of sex; 3) consumer behaviour of underclothes represents a part of information culture; 4) changes in the pattern of maintaining underclothes show that differentiation of sex role in household tasks is decreased.