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What is the Meaning of Black in Korean Traditional Mourning Dress?  

Park, Saet Byul (Dept. of Art, Art History, and Design, Michigan State University)
DeLong, Marilyn (Dept. of Design, Housing and Apparel, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities)
Publication Information
International Journal of Costume and Fashion / v.14, no.2, 2014 , pp. 81-96 More about this Journal
Abstract
The meanings of colors vary with time and space. For the most important events in a person's life, such as wedding or funeral, people use color to symbolize their identities or roles. Traditionally, the colors of dress had indicated the wearer's age, class, or marital status in Korea. However, Korea's exposure to western cultures has affected in many dimensions of its modern history. Especially, influenced by social change, the traditional dress has undergone many modifications in forms, silhouettes, materials, and color. However, women's mourning dress has been maintained as a long lasting tradition and the use of white in mourning dress has been regarded as a norm until recently, while men have worn a regular black suit with a black tie. But, the shift from white to black in mourning dress has been observed in recent mourning practices. To examine this change of color in Korean traditional mourning dress, a historical approach utilizing multiple resources, such as interview, observations of events, documents, and archival records was applied.
Keywords
Black; Mourning dress; Korean traditional dress; Diffusion of innovation; Christianity;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 5  (Citation Analysis)
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