A Study on Underwear

Underwear에 관한 고찰

In the history of the costume of Western Europe one of the most interesting apects is that the silhouette of women's dress has been continuously evolved. There can be various origins in this changing silhouette but the most important origin is that clothes of any period are the reflection of the architectural political religious and economic background against which they are worn they must also be djusted to the texture and design of the materials produced at the time and of course there is always the basic instinct of sex attraction. The changing line in men's and women's clothes has been demanded by each period but man's great active life did not required the development of exaggerated line which could restrict his movements. Exaggeration in men's clothes has usually been confined to accessories only details could be simplified or abandoned altogether in time of action. However Woman has no great concern in these restrivtions and when an era demanded an exaggerated silhouette she developed it to the utmost limit with out any hesitation plunged herself into whalebone cane and steel for the desired line and then later to adapt herself to a changing world just as without any hesitaion abandoned all these artificial props. In this study first of all the origin of the corset and the evolution of silhouette will be chronologically studied and rearranged on the basis of written materials such as text books theses and catalogs which are related to corset In this section the most important backgrounds-social religious and economic-which caused the chages of silhouette will be scrutinized in a time order. Then the shapes and functions of corsets will be looked into in a more detailed way. In addition the materials and decorations which were preferred to achieve the desired silhouette will be examined. Finally underwear which was and has been worn for cleanness protection the shapes of outer clothes and erotic mood will be studied.