The Image of Black Expressed in Western Dress-From Renaissance to 19C-

서양 복식에 나타난 검정색의 이미지-르네상스 시대부터 19세기 말까지를 중심으로-

The purpose of this study is to abstract the image from black dress, which has been favored by many people regardless of the times and examine it throughout the history of drss and thereby clearly define the images that black limplies in dress. Color image is a visual symbol, an image that forms through a combination of visual stimulus created by color, coupled with all the external factors related to it. Black is a one-dimensional color, of which the impact is subjective to its energy, which depends on light reflected on the object, and its texture. Therefore, black projects different images, depending on its surroundings. In general, black has had negative connotations in the Western culture. In dress, however, it has implied other various images different from the general negative ones. By combining general images of black and those exprssed in dress, major images of black were categorized into dignity, elegance, eroticism, asceticism and tragedy. Dignity is a category similar to the sublime. Dress with dignity has sharp contours and is generally made of velvet or silk which can be characterized by their splendor and voluminous-ness, exaggerating the body of a person wearing it. Such costume is mostly found in powerful countries in history such as Burgundy Court in the 15C, Spain in the 16C. Netherlands in the 17C. Elegance evokes grace and beautifulness. It includes elegance, grace, beauty and dandyism as subcategories or silk. Good examples are dandies' black costume and Ladies black and white dressees in the 19C. Eroticism is an image which expresses sexual attractiveness. Costume with eroticism is made of velvet or silk, which project sumptuousness through reflection. Such costumes expose parts of the body or are tightly tailored in order to emphasizes body contours. Asceticism means restraint from physical and mental desires. Costume with asceticism makes a person wearing it look smaller by covering the whole body. Puritan's black dresses and Bourgeoisie's black suit are good examples. Tragedy is anguish. sorrow. Black costume with grievous feelings such as mourning dresses is made of lusterless textile concealing most of the body except for the face.