• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1193-1204
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• 2011

As designs that simulate man's five wits are important, all five senses used are complex. Tactil value by Bernard Berenson means that the object in fine art makes the spectator feel like his or her finger is touching something, although the spectator is distant from the art piece. Especially as costumes have a relationship with the flexible skin and moving body, tactile modality and tactile value is more important. In order to analyze how Madeleine Vionnet realized a new femininity through the application of the principal of tactile value to dress design and in order to define tactile value in the field of fashion, this study examines the theory of tactile value, sculpture, painting, contemporary art, and product design as well as the design of Madeleine Vionnet from 1925 to 1937 because she was in the fashion business enlarging dress shops in New york during this period. The shape of Madeleine Vionnet's dresses made the concealed body alive through organic curves pressed against the body from cuts and dissections based on the anatomy of a supple body with curves and movement. In the garments, soft physical characteristics or the glossy touch of silk or pile textile imitated smooth skin while colors similar to a woman's eye, hair, and skin color continue the impression of the dress extending to the body through these design elements, Madeleine Vionnet's dresses reinforce the will to touch female body hidden under the dress by tactile values, not by the body's modification or visual exposure.