• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.33-45
• /
• 2003

This is a study that examines the fashion changes in the 20th century in terms of various subcultures in the period. Starting from defining the concept and the developing process of subculture, this study traces the history of subcultural styles from 1930s to 1990s, focusing on the way each generation resisted the main stream through its styles. This study is intended to provide a theoretical frame on the understanding of subcultural styles, with a close examination of its formative and developing process and characteristics. This study understands subcultural style as a way of deviate or resistant expression within a society. It differentiates itself from the main style by deliberately and publicly asserting its own identity, and, as a result, realizes in the form of fashion its repressed subconsciousness, resistance to the alienation from the society, and deviation from the normative ethics and morality of a society. The four types of subcultural styles presented in chapter 4 are based on their form of resistance, and they are classified and analyzed as follows: The first type is revision, which tries to revise and change the given form by adding new elements. There are two kinds of revision, one is dressing up, which dresses for success, and the other is minimal dressing. Hyperbole is the second type, which resists by emphasizing or hyperbolizing the main stream with its erotic, nihilistic, or dynamic forms. Two kinds of hyperbole are examined, one is hyperbole of masculinity, and the other is ostentatious hyperbole. The third type is reversal and rejection, which reverses the forms from the established sign system into its own secret code, or rejects the traditional taboos. This type include no dressing, and the reversal of sex identity. Isolation and redrawal is the fourth type, which tries to distance itself from the ritual code of the day. This type is divided into dressing of the escape from time, and dressing of the escape from space. The first group of this type is characterized by nostalgia or futurism. An emphasis is given on ethnicity, naturalism, or a closed space within a city in dressing of the escape from space. In conclusion, it can be said that subcultural style puts the foremost importance on individual freedom. Since 1990s, the distinction between the subcultural styles and high fashion gets somewhat blurred, while the liberal, sexual, life stylistic tension between the two groups are heightened.

• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
• /
• no.13
• /
• pp.35-71
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this essay is to examine the responses of artists on nuclear experiences through an analysis of the nuclear images represented in contemporary Japanese art. Japan has previously as twice experienced nuclear disaster in 20th century. The first atomic bombs were dropped in 1945 as well as the 5th Fukuryumaru, Japanese pelagic fishing boat, exposed by hydrogen bomb test operated by the US in 1954 nearby Bikini atoll. Due to Tsunami taken place by the great earthquake that caused the meltdown of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in March 2010, Japan is being experienced a nuclear disaster again. Despite practical experiences, comtemporary Japanese art has avoided the subject of nuclear disasters since the end of the Asia-Pacific War for a variety of reasons. Firstly, GHQ prohibited to record or depict the terrible effect of atomic bomb until 1946. Secondly, Japanese government has tried to sweep the affair under the carpet quite a while a fact of nuclear damage to their people. Because Japan has produced numerous war record paintings during the Second World War, in the aftermath of the defeated war, most of Japanese artists thought that dealing with politics, economics, and social subject was irrelevant to art as well as style of amateur in order to erase their melancholic memory on it. In addition, silence that was intended to inhibit victims of nuclear disasters from being provoked psychologically has continued the oblivion on nuclear disasters. For these reasons, to speak on nuclear bombs has been a kind of taboo in Japan. However, shortly after the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the artist couple Iri and Toshi Maruki visited to ruin site as a volunteer for Victim Relief. They portrayed the horrible scenes of the legacy of nuclear bomb since 1950 based on their observation. Under the condition of rapid economical growth in 1960s and 1970s, Japanese subculture such as comics, TV animations, plastic model, and games produced a variety of post apocalyptic images recalling the war between the USA and Japanese militarism, and battle simulation based on nuclear energy. While having grown up watching subculture emerged as Japan Neo-Pop in 1990s, New generation appreciate atomic images such as mushroom cloud which symbolizes atomic bomb of Hiroshima. Takashi Murakami and other Neo-Pop artists appropriate mushroom cloud image in their work. Murakami curated three exhibitions including and persists in superflat and infantilism as an evidence in order to analyze contemporary Japanese society. However, his concept, which is based on atomic bomb radiation exposure experience only claimed on damage and sacrifice, does not reflect Japan as the harmer. Japan has been constructing nuclear power plants since 1954 in the same year when the 5th Fukuryumaru has exposed until the meltdown of Fukushima Nuclear Plant although took place of nuclear radiation exposures of Three Mile and Chernobyl. Due to the exploding of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, Japan reconsiders the danger of nuclear disaster. In conclusion, the purpose of this paper may be found that the sense of victim which flowed in contemporary art is able to inquire into the response of artist on the subject of nuclear as well as the relationship between society, politics, culture, and modern history of Japan and international political situation.

• Journal of Fashion Business
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.116-127
• /
• 2002

The hip-hop fashion of the nineteens is just as important in hip-hop as in rapping, breaking, or graffitiwriting to young people. Hip-hop fashions major influences range from martial-arts moves, to street-gang uniforms and paraphernalia. Hip-hop fashion grew and evolved with the subculture. The identification with street-gang culture is important to hip-hop in general and still set the pace for hip-hop fashion. There are things that are necessary fashion components for each segment of hip-hop life. So even prisons are now selling prison clothes. Explaining the look, The rawest street element is a jail element, so the strongest statement is a uniform with shirts and trousers that match perfectly, like a jail piece. Insiders can detect the away of gang and prison culture on the iconography of seemingly innocuous brands. Hip-hop glam is part of an evolution of hip-hop style. Rap's gone luxe, and it is women who are leading the high-fashion charge. They wear in diamonds and fur. Now it is a very glam. Now, many brands are upping their marketing activities through a focus on their women's lines in advertising, and featuring hot celebrities. There is also a lot of rethinking of looks going on. Sexy and tight is emerging as the style of choice in this market and fabrications are becoming more important, as designers refine and upgrade their women's line. The clothes of hip-hop glam were the ordinary with the extraordinary: Designer fur and leather with athletic team jerseys, Nike sneakers, diamond bracelets and mall brands like Guess and Fubu. The hip-hop musician's sporty hip-hop looks has amply young people. The hip-hop looks of baggy jeans, oversized shirts and rugged outerwear have become a part of mainstream fashion. Hip-hop fashion has the characteristics of being sporty. In the 90s, Military look has got one of the fashionable hip-hop fashion style. It does not have inner symbolic meaning or ideology but it only represents a fashion trend and revival fashion. Not only fashion designer but also hip-hop musician selected the trend for hip-hop fashion style.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.66 no.3
• /
• pp.51-74
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between the inspirations and designs of Dries Van Noten's Men's collections from 1992 S/S to 2014 F/W. The specific questions of this research are as follows: what are the important design features of the Dries Van Noten's Mixed collections from 1985 S/S to 1991 F/W? What are 'the roots of inspiration' of Dries Van Noten's Men's collections from 1992 S/S to 2014 F/W, and what are the aesthetic criterions of Noten's works? How can the roots of inspiration be categorized and what are its features? How did these roots of inspiration influence the Noten's designs? The paper is a reference of how ideas turn to practical works, and what the relationship between inspiration and design. Researchers utilized a qualitative research method providing a systematic review of the previous studies by analyzing the content. To conclude, roots of inspiration of Dries Van Noten's Men's collections can be classified into nine categories: 'Interpretation', 'Ethnic', 'Multiple Contents', 'Subculture', 'Region', 'Artist', 'Fashion Item', 'Sports', and 'New Trend'. Through the roots of inspiration, sensibility of Belgium, England, Italy, French chic, inquiry of ethnic, artist, sports, the neuter gender image, 1950's, 1960's & 1970's trend & style of street fashion, elegance for men, romanticism, zoot, rock 'n' roll, teddy boy, mods, punk, new romantic and 19th century's Anglo-Saxon style are extracted and applied to the designs through cross impact. The identity of Dries Van Noten's Men's collections are cross culture contents and harmony of the old generation and new generation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.65 no.4
• /
• pp.61-75
• /
• 2015

This research aims to analyze the prep-hop fashion, which is an original look created through the convergence of the hip-hop and preppy look, and identify the design characteristics of the prep-hop fashion. The style mixes the fashion of what was traditionally a lower-class look with the upper class. The design characteristics are as follows: First, the prep-hop fashion expresses slim, casual and sophisticated look with items and silhouettes. The items are categorized into jackets, shirts and pants. The prep-hop jackets provides a casual look to its wearer unlike the jackets of preppy or conservative looks. Slim suits show different meanings and features depending on the changes in the time and culture despite the continued use of the items. Second, the colors of the prep-hop fashion include overall basic colors used in the preppy look and hip-hop fashion. The aesthetic values of the colors express pleasant color images different from the conservative and resistant images expressed in the preppy and hip-hop style before the convergence, respectively. Third, the materials and patterns are expressed in a unique way to fulfill the emotional needs that are considered vital to contemporary fashion. The materials in the prep-hop fashion extend the ranges of usage by using the materials with unexpectedness broken out of general range of usage. While the use of the patterns is one of the methods to demonstrate that the prep-hop fashion is created by the convergence between hip-hop fashion and preppy look, the meaning concludes pleasantness and casualness different from the past. Fourth, the prep-hop fashion is mainly composed of hip-hop fashion accessories, which express the authenticity of the hip-hop fashion to protect the non-mainstream characteristics. The design characteristics of the prep-hop fashion pursue the individuality of the contemporary fashion, which lacks originality due to commercialization. The development of the prep-hop fashion, as a new form that combined contrasting genres and trends, is expected to develop more publicly.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.30-39
• /
• 2004

This study aims to investigate various cultural activities of the Korean youth including the subcultural and popular cultural activities and their characteristics and influences on the youth fashion during the period 1996-2004. This study employs a qualitative approach based on the previous discussions of relevant literatures dealing with Korean youth culture and their fashion styles. The result of the study shows that the most prominent characteristic in youth fashion of the period was 'bricolage.' The appearance of 'Seotaiji' and the activities of his group laid the cornerstone of youth culture in the early 1990's. The influence of postmodernism changed the conventional sexism and androgynous outfit thrived. The androgynous effect also had strong influence on men's fashion in what turned out to be Metro-Sexual in early 2004. During the period 2000-2004 the postmodernism regained its popularity both in culture and fashion. 'Body' was also an important part of youth culture and has become the most popular and prevalent word of this era. At the same time the 'Well-Being' and sports look were the new trend of youth fashion. Sports look, also known as Caports, is one of these new trends and the most important youth fashion style like mix & match reformation. The youth became more and more aware of the body image and were interested in fashion as well. This trend awareness of their body and Well-Being image as well as their inclination to the fashion in the youth is expected to continue. Therefore the fashion industry, as their marketing strategy, needs to analyze the characteristics of the cultural trends among the youth and to prepare for the future need of youth fashion.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.65-75
• /
• 2013

As a typical subculture, Goth exercises influence on our culture in broad areas. Features of Gothic style, such as dark aesthetics, images of death and fear, and erotic horrification, emerged as attractive themes to contemporary fashion designs. Based on the dark attraction of black color, Goth fashion creates mysterious and fantastic atmosphere as well as grotesque and horrifying mood. 'Hallyu' or Korean wave is a term to describe the phenomenon of fervently loving Korean popular culture. As the fast spreading Hallyu is strongly engraved through the visually conspicuous fashion, we can say that fashion plays important role in diffusing Hallyu. In addition, a number of analyses and researches on the Hallyu, including K-pop, have been conducted, while concentrating keen interest in fashion of Hallyu K-pop stars. Accordingly, this study is designed to examine relations between fashion of K-pop stars and Goth fashion after analyzing features of Hallyu and K-pop and contemplating Goth fashion. Namely, this study will analyze various Goth images shown in K-pop fashion, which is the core of Hallyu, and identify aesthetic features of Goth shown in the fashion of K-pop stars. An investigation and analysis of the Goth images shown in the fashion of K-pop stars identifies the following features : a black aesthetic, eroticism, defiance, reversal of gender identity, and mystery.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.46
• /
• pp.49-66
• /
• 1999

The bisexuality deconstructivity and diversity that are great characteristics on the comtemporary fashion are showed in the fashion collections. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze the influence of these characteristics made by the post modern-feminism fashion through the cultural pattern analysis. The post modern-feminism was analyzed by dividing the cultural pattern into 1) the deconstructivity of androcentrism -This characteristic was presented in the costume design that breaks the basic from of the line color and quality of the material showing in men's clothes. 2) By rejecting main current fashion -Subculture style appeared in main current fashion the boundary of main and anti-main current fashion was vagued and the phenomena that the identity of subgroup was weakened were showed. 3) In the coexistence of double-sided value -This characteristic was presented in the cross-dressing fashion that cut away women's slender part and men's rough part. 4) In the open-minded thought of gender -This tendency was reached an extreme from excessive exposure to design which gives the sexual stimulus. This paper is expected to be helpful to understand the contemporary fashion by treating the cultural category associated with post-modern feminism in relation to contemporary fashion and to establish the direction of 21 century fashion.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.869-879
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to understand the Tecktonik culture and fashion, and to compare its features in Korea and France. Unlike prior studies which mainly dealt with subcultures in the U. S. and the U. K., this study paid attention to the condition of Korea. Tecktonik is a dance and music craze that originated in France in 2000, and spread worldwide via the Internet. The main features of Tecktonik fashion are slim fit, vivid colors, and high-top sneakers, which represent current fashion and culture trends, and express the feeling of Tecktonik music and dance. Compared to France, Korean Tecktonik fashion emphasizes sexual attraction of women with short skirt, while men are conservative about mohican hairstyle and dark make-up. In France, Tecktonik has become a sound social amusement, while in Korea it has been used for advertisements or entertainer's fashion style. The subcultural characteristics of Tecktonik were identified as playfulness, the active use of digital media, and high commercial value. In France where Tecktonik is for participating in a joyful dance, playfulness is prominent, and in Korea where Tecktonik acts as a visual entertainment, commercial value is outstanding. It has made differences in Tecktonik fashion of the two countries.