• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-63
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of modular design observed in Korean traditional clothing. Modular design, which is one of the noticeable characteristics of modern fashion design emerged in the 20th century. This study analyzed the Korean traditional culture to investigate the characteristics that show similarities to the modular system in design. A traditional Korean house is composed of small structures called 'chae'. A traditional Korean building is composed of a basic unit space called 'kan', and the rooms are divided and recombined. Korean traditional interior design shows furniture, bedding and art works that could be used, folded then stored. Korean cuisine is served in combination with small dishes. Korean letters are combined in square shaped form to make writing and printing easy. Korean traditional clothing has a way of washing where clothing are disassembled, washed and then re-stitched. The pattern pieces are made to be rectangular shaped so that the fabric pieces can be kept in shape during washing. The rectangular shaped pattern pieces can be replaced and reused after washing. Tops and bottoms could be interchanged for color-coordination, because the shapes of the clothing were standardized. These features exhibit modular system in Korean traditional clothing design. Modular system design has common characteristics which have basic modules, pursue practical purpose, have interchangeability adapted to circumstances, and could be disassembled and re-combined. Korean traditional clothing illustrates different ways of practicing modular system, but has some common features to contemporary modular fashion design.