• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.55 no.1 s.91
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• pp.101-112
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• 2005

One of the curiosities harbored most by anthropologists may be why women are so different from men physically. One of such differences must be the breast. Female animals do not have such a swollen breast even when they nurse their young. We can find many Western garments highlighting the breast, but in Korea the tradition has been that the breast should not be highlighted. It was because the large breast was deemed useful that Western people appreciated it highly. In general, it is conceived that to ancient Westerners' eyes, the nursing function of the breast was very mysterious, because the food supplies were insufficient. Although the size of a breast does not affect its nursing function, Westerners may have thought that it did. To the contrary, in the societies with rich agricultural products, the breast was not much emphasized as the reproductive organs. Since people are more and more concerned about their body and the breast or one of the body parts characterizing the femininity is regarded as an important element of design, it may well be significant to research into the breast designs for development of the fashion design. With such basic conceptions in mind, this study was aimed at reviewing the artworks featuring women's breast and their historical background and thereupon, analyzing the aesthetic values of the breast-featuring designs by dividing them into four categories in large.