• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.73-87
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• 2017

Monpe, Korean women's wartime attire during the Japanese colonization period, has survived for 70 years as typical baggy workpants for rural women and emerged as retro-fashion. This paper applied a theory of "meme" to explain the monpe fashion trend in Korea. Based on literature review, empirical analyses were conducted by analyzing market and media including newspaper articles and blogs. We found that the monpe meme has evolved over time through variation, penetration, and diffusion. In terms of variation, the impression of monpe transitioned from a negative image to a positive one as a result of changes in design, functionality, and popular image. In terms of penetration, the monpe meme has spread into popular culture, again through mass media, with images of active, sexy, and attractive monpe-wearers on television and at popular occasions. Finally, the monpe meme has diffused throughout a broad range of consumers of various ages and both genders as an item of clothing for various occasions through diversified distribution channels. In this way, the development of monpe as fashionable clothing in Korea during the 2000s is itself a meme reflecting its evolution from a disgraceful colonial legacy to an item of contemporary fashion.