• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.163-175
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• 2000

This study focuses on the Zen style in contemporary fashion which presents itself as one of the dominant cultural phenomena these days. After investigating the basic concepts and features of the Zen style and examining its birth and development, this study moves on to the ways in which it is characteristically applied for the world of fashion. This study is also performed both by the theoretical research on related books and papers for the explication of main concepts and by the practical research on fashion magazines and works of famous fashion designers for the presentation of more detailed illustration. When we are talking about postmodernism, which is a reaction against or a continuation of modernism, as a cultural dominant shown up in the late twentieth century, the Zen style itself can be regarded as a typical representation of postmodernism in fashion. Although the Zen style can be viewed as sharing the basic principles with minimalism which is a main branch of modernism, it is strongly in line with postmodernism (which is human-centered) in that its fundamental idea is based on emotions and feelings of human beings and the purity of natural world. As above, ZEN is a crossover phenomenon between postmodernism and modernism. In this sense, it is said that within the name of postmodernism the Zen style has satisfied our desire to present our inner world of mind with the help of regional philosophy (in this case Oriental one). The four main aspects of the Zen style in fashion are following : simplicity connected with the Oriental moderation, the use of the Oriental silhouette and detail, the destruction of form, and the nature-friendly attitude. These will be under close examination in this study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.57 no.3 s.112
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• pp.176-190
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• 2007

As the globalization has increasingly brought in the disintrgration of boundary between cultures, the hybrid of styles, or fusion styles in various cultural spheres have been introduced as important theme. With this new trend, the traditional culture of Asia appeared as the source of inspiration for the West, and as the source of enhanced pride and asset for ethnic groups which have been considered "the Other" by the West. 1990's witnessed a drastically increased interest in Orientalism and Ethnic trends in most social aspects, especially in culture and art. They have been the main theme in fashion, providing the source of inspiration with elements such as the unique color schemes, composition methods and geometrical simplicity. The creative application of traditional culture into modern design as well as fashion can make a significant contribution and be a solid foundation for the development of national culture in general, since images containing cultural authenticity are the visual representation of the nation and they can be important tools for the globalization of design. This study aims to find out the formative characteristics of Korean traditional embroidery and the ways they are applied in modern fashion by world-renowned Korean fashion designers. The purpose of this study is to make a fundamental source for further study by the same author on creative design development utilizing the result. The study methods are literature study combined with research of genuine articles from museums and personal ownership as well as photos from magazines and internet. The significance of this study lies in enhancing the appreciation of Korean traditional culture and expanding the possibility of its globalization by modern application.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.327-340
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• 2015

Male skirt is found in traditional costumes all over the world. Due to the development of tailoring skills in the early Middle ages, men started wearing breeches and pantaloons gradually distinguishing the different characteristics of menswear and womenswear. Since then, skirt became the strong representation of the female gender, symbolizing the feminism. However, under the influences of technological development and diversification in 2000s, gender identity has been diversely expressed in modern fashion allowing male gender to embrace different sexual identities. The purpose of the study is to analyze the nature of male skirts, which have been popularized in modern men's fashion through both the expressional elements and compositional elements. This study associates design elements of male skirt, gradually appearing in the contemporary men's fashion with the sexual symbolism and reinterpreted it's significance in the flow of the modern fashion. Reinterpretation of the gender image in costumes are considered to contribute to the cultural context and extension in diversity. These research results forms a basic foundation to expand in studies of men's fashion design and gender image of costumes through cultural contexts and it's changes. It is considered that this can lay groundwork to make various attempts at passing over the archetype of the gender image besides the continuous appearance of male skirt in the field of fashion design.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1031-1047
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• 2010

This study examines the conceptual characteristics of fantasy movies. It also studies the process of socio-cultural changes of the mythical images such as heroes, goddesses and the devil that have often become the centre of fantasy movie characters. This study further examines the features of each character that correspond to specific mythical images. The purpose of this research is to suggest the conceptual and aesthetic characteristics of fantasy reflected in the characters and the costumes of fantasy movies, which were released since the year 2000. The followings are the results of the research: The conceptual characteristics of fantasy reflected in the characters and the costumes of fantasy movies are summarized as representation of reality, allegory and symbols, horror, desire, deconstruction and metamorphosis, otherness and counter-cultural sentiments. The aesthetic characteristics of the costumes of fantasy movies are defined as typicality and symbolism, grotesqueness, sensuality, hybridization, and otherness. These characteristics are very interconnected. The costumes of heroic characters appearing in fantasy movies show strong side of standard while the costumes of the evil characters revealed the limit of dualistic point of worldview centered on West. Heroic characters show realistic and human side that reflects the ethos of the time. Negative characters such as the devil or witches, which were created in human imagination and emotion, become the dynamic force of fantasy movies through their deviant actions. Their clothes, with variety and hybridization, become the source of creativity expected in present society.

• English & American cultural studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.29-57
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• 2013

Patricia Waugh once regarded modernism fiction as 'the struggle for personal autonomy' against the opposition existing social institutions and conventions. Michael Cunningham's characterizations of Virginia Woolf and Septimus in The Hours show the two contrasting reactions to individual alienation and mental dissolution in the modern era. As the personifications of endurance and self-destruction against the mechanical power of contemporary world, Woolf and Septimus consist of just the world of diptych where the woman's role is confined to the angel in the house. By creating Mrs. Brown based upon his own alienated mother image, however, Cunningham succeeds in representing the more dramatically vivid world of triptych where woman can have her own room and self-realization despite still facing the dilemma of the traditional family. Accepting Joycean Bloom's optimistic and relaxing way of life in part, Mrs. Brown connects the labyrinths between the author's (and also Richard's) alienation with the theme of celebration of the life. Clarissa in postmodern New York setting is still a concealed and mystified character. Similar to Mrs. Dalloway, on the one hand Clarissa watches other people's tragedy with compassion. Cunningham's Clarissa, on the other hand, is no longer seeking for either winning or defeat in the spectacular world unlike her predecessors. In many resilient attitudes of everyday life Clarissa is closest to Mrs. Brown whom Virginia Woolf originally hopes to describe. Without any fear or rage toward the society Clarissa witnesses and achieves "the humanity, humour, depth" of female values by successfully turning the trivial life into an epic journey.

• English & American cultural studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.29-61
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• 2017

Said's Orientalism criticized the European representations on the Middle-East by theorizing orientalism as a discourse. In this text, he explored and criticized the colonial forms of knowledge and language that distorted the image of the colonized. The justification of the discourse of orientalism is derived from the binary system that is originated from Plato which Derrida rejects on the ground that it always privileges one term over the other, that is, colonizer over colonized. Derrida names for this traditional heritage of Western binary system logocentrism which regards logos(the Greek term for speech or reason) as the central principle of language and philosophy, whereas mythos derives its meaning from the logos on the basis of binary oppositions. Thus according to logocentrism, the colonized is merely the defined who can have its meaning from the definers, colonizers. In this paper, utilizing Derrida's a (non)concept called supplement which means both to add on as a surplus and to make up something missing as a mere extra, I propose another alternative interpretation towards the critique of colonial representation by raising internal contradictions in the Platonic dichotomy between logos and mythos embedded in western colonialism discourse, orientalism. I attempt to show that logos(colonizer) and mythos(colonized) is inseparable in itself due to the fact that they exist as supplementary. For this purpose, I demonstrate how colonial binary system constituted and was constituted in terms of language. Through this paper I reinterpret the colonial rationality of privileging 'logos' over 'mythos' by substituting the colonial binary system with the supplement.

• English & American cultural studies
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.47-70
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• 2016

Under the inhumane oppression of imperialism, the Third World's political violence has been often represented as an immediate and explosive one with an instant, concentrated visibility. Yet the ecological and psychological exploitation of the Third-World countries by empires, as Rob Nixon insists, shows the relative invisibility of slow violence. This paper is to reveal this slow violence of the marginalized areas symbolized as the lowland. Although Arne Naess' deep ecology promotes the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. this paper deals with three postcolonial ecological textbooks which criticize the white-centered deep ecology: Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace, Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland, and Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. Through postcolonial critical study, this paper finds out that all these three works have some themes in common. First, these postcolonial works assume a shape of family saga which is parallel to the slow violence of ecological and psychological plundering of empires in the postcolonial countries. Second, like the mangroves which have a tenacious hold on life, these postcolonial people rather overcome the heterogenic challenge with the sturdy and tough mind than defeated. Third, the native people's ethics of earth functions as the stronghold for their respectable lifestyle in their indigenous historicity. Finally, as a big fat brother, the Americanized globalization or neoliberalism is warned as the neocolonialism which is often shown as the disguised pattern of greenwashing. Namely, the people's self-enhancement is always prior to the imperialistic development or neoliberalism in the postcolonial ecological texts which sharply contrast the native's life consciousness and the empire's development theory.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.75-110
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• 2018

This study is to figure out the Filipino cultural identity by analyzing the image of the Philippine comfort woman statue, which was created as a representation of memories of the Filipino comfort women during the World War II. As a new approach to the field of area study, this study introduced the concept of 'intertextuality', which is a method of understanding texts in the field of literature. Since the comfort woman statue represents the grieved memories of the comfort women during the international war time, the analysis of the image was focused on 'femininity' and 'nationalism'. As for comparison, the Korean comfort woman statue, the Statue of Peace, was taken into the analysis. Upon analyzing, it can be seen that Filipino perception of femininity emphasizes 'beauty' rather than 'purity' that expressed in the Statue of Peace. And the Philippine nationalism expressed through the comfort woman statue can find 'elitist and inclusive' characteristics, unlike the 'popular and resisting' characteristics of Korean.

• Lingua Humanitatis
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.283-299
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• 2002

The Contemporary Korean fiction today to a certain context infringes on the outskirts of mainstream literary theories diversified to an extent that anything and everything that are printed are defined as literature. The two fictions that the study is based upon, probably, shows the effects of postmodernism in Korean fictional 'space' in that the representation of the said fictions veers clear from that with which one might associate in contemplating the traditional Korean fiction. The study, though it seems, based on a more of a societal perspective rather than traditional literary perspective is to be noted in reference with the postmodern theories that we identity with today. The paper takes look at the changes that can be noted in the fictions: Kyung ma jang ga nun gil by Ha Il-ji and Oak tap hang by Park Sang-woo. The main objective of the paper is that it tried to identify the cultural identity of Koreans through the descriptions found in the two works. While concluding as to why these two fictions can be categorized as belonging to the genre of postmodernism the research also tries to formulate what and how postrnodernism can be discerned in fictional genre and this especially in today's Contemporary Korean fiction.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.291-299
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• 2011

As our lifestyles have changed due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, new social and communication problems have been caused and there have been lots of discussion on regional communication. For communities to become alternatives with realistic meanings in this changed society, considerations on social and spatial conditions are needed. Therefore, public space which works as a device of physical environment for activation of communities needs more active changes which encourages social communication. In respect to the activation of communities, the following suggestions are given: First, physical devices of a urban plaza should be arranged to support various programs presented along with consideration of human behaviors as users. Second, fundamental facilities of the plaza should accommodate various activities through connections with programs and commercial space. Third, when cultural and historical characteristics of the community are understood, the plaza can form regionality and symbolism through artistic representation. And users can form the identity of community. Fourth, transportation facilities should be separated from or coexist with areas of passengers and the plaza should have its own identity through symbolic sculptures.