A Study on the Androgynous Expressed in Contemporary Fashion

현대 패션에 나타난 앤드로지너스에 관한 연구

The pursuit of freedom by the individual--desire to be liberated from all forms of restrictions-- is one of the defining character-istic of the modern society. As costume is, in part, a product of the spirit of the times, it was only natural that this desire for freedom would find its expression in modern costume as well. Among various forms of restrictions, differentiaton by sex has placed one of the most significant binding influences on individual behavior. From early times, the dichotomous division by sex was incorporated into the disign of costume, and the traditional differestriction of costume by sex imposed a significant restriction on the background,“the modern androhynous look”was born as a by-product of the sexual liberation movement in the second half of the 20th century, based on the concept of the individual as a complete human being rather than as a member exclusively of either the male or the female sex. This paper seeks to examine the androgynous look within a coherent theoretical frame-work, and explore new design possibilities by analyzing and understanding the visual characteristics of the androgynous look. In addition, this paper seeks to define the functional aspects of the androgynous look based on the premise that costume is an embodiment of the spirit of the times. As for research methodology, both theoretical and historical methods are employed. Through a theoretical examination of historical documents, the meaning of the androgynous look is explored from various angles, and order to examine its place in modern fashion, an-drogynous styles are categorized and system atically analyzed. The main findings of the paper can be summarized as follows : 1. Androgyny is a compound word consisting of“andro-”(meaning man) and“gyn-”(meaning woman). In modern times, this word has been associated with the socio-cultural aspect of gender rather than the physical or physiological aspect with the pshchological characteristics of the male and female sexes. Androgynous styles also appear in fashion and general arts such as drama, film, dance, and music. In fashion, the androgynous look, represented by the visual superimposition of “masculine”and “faminine”elements, has emerged as a major element of the 20th-century costume, and has gained broad acceptance among those free spirits wishing to be liberated from the conventional conceptions of male clothing, and the unisex look. 3. The androgynous look in modern fashion reflects the spirit of the 20th century society and culture, and performs various functions as follows : expression of fun, change in gender roles, expression of the inner consciousness, and pursuit of the ideal human type.