The Fashion Communication Media and the Beauty of Ideal Body (II)- Focusing on the Beauty of Body -

패션 커뮤니케이션 매체와 이상적 신체미(제2보)- 신체미를 중심으로 -

  • Published : 2002.12.01

Abstract

This study discusses the beauty of the ideal body shown by fashion communication media, and explains how aesthetic aspects of, the body are being expressed in contemporary fashion. The beauty of the body may be considered as the beauty of sexual, controllable or consumable object. First. the most vigorously discussed point about the body is its sexual aspect, the most outstanding of which is the voluptuous and the androgynous beauty in contemporary fashion. Second, the body is an object which has been oppressed or controlled under the name of history. morality. and rationality. The things making us regard the body itself as an aesthetic object may be considered as dynamic and functional beauty Third, the sexual instinct and the body are fetishized as consumer goods, and women's bodies are presented as comsumer objects whose most parts could be restored to exchangeable value. The consumable beauty presented in contemporary fashion is the conspicuous beauty and the decadent beauty. So far, the various aspects of the beautiful body has been considered, based on the beauty of the ideal body shown by the fashion communication media. Man exists through on his body. but it is the embodied and formed body that serves as a means to manifest his social status and cultural ties. A natural body is reformed as a cultural phenomenon in various artificial ways. Popular culture has transmitted a series of new body image by creating and reproducing symbols and images, and has made the ideal body. Now there is not only one standard for the ideal beauty in our society. The standard of the beauty has changed continuously. There has been an aesthetic sense which can represent the times during the process of those changes. The various communication media have played a role of mirror reflecting those changes. The ideal body in contemporary times is no more an abstract media to express classical beauty, but an object directly affecting us, who are living in the crisis of subjectivity and identity.

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