The Styles and Characteristics of Masks as Expressed in Modern Fashion

현대 패션에 나타난 가면의 형태와 특성

This study is on the various style and characteristics of mask, and was performed empirically by reviewing the related materials such as the literature, precedent studies, fashion works, and home and foreign fashion magazines. As a result of the study, the style of mask in the modern fashion is roughly categorized by full-covered style, half-covered style, and over-half-covered style which is covered over 50% of a face. And, mask is utilized on a hat or a dress all over, or is produced by a elaborate makeup. Mask with lots of variation has three big characteristics, which are sense of disguise, sense of ornamentation, sense of grotesquery. First, sense of disguise means deviation or tool of affectation instead of cultural standard norm through transforming or masquerading as an imagery person or animal in ancient myths, famous artistes, etc. It could be developed to express a designer's identity. Second, mask decorated with various styles and materials has sense of ornamentation, which means natural human desire of expression for beauty, and at the same time human mind longing for experience a fantastic and ideal inner world being deviated from the present world even indirectly. Third, ignoring the original format of eyes, nose, and mouth, using extraordinarily various techniques such as distortion, extreme, exaggeration, concealment, or combining with animal images, mask has sense of grotesquery inducing humor and horror simultaneously.