• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.878-890
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• 2008

As a pioneer of modem dance, $Lo{\ddot{i}}e$ Fuller($1869\sim1928$) was important because she introduced a free style dance using a new style of stage costumes. Also, $Lo{\ddot{i}}e$ Fuller was an important motif in $fin-de-si{\grave{e}}cle$, French arts, posters, sculptures, and so forth. This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of Fuller's dance and costumes, and to analyze the modernism in both. To better understand Fuller's dance, this article talks about research on Fuller's career, dance, and Fuller's own biography. Stage costumes, letters for patent, and photographs were are also studied. The most important elements of Fuller's dance were her costumes and the electric lights which could make free style expressions a fantastic representation of dance. To clarify the modernity of Fuller's dance, first of all, this study researched Fuller's career in dance and then analyzed representations of Fuller's dances in visual arts; posters, sculptures and lastly, the characteristics of Fuller's stage costumes. As a result, this article analyzed characteristics of Fuller's dance in three points. First, Fuller used sculptures of silk cloth's drapery to express physical movements and actions. Second, Fuller used lighting and electrical effects that had just been developed in the late 19th Century. Third, Fuller made an application for patents against stage costume and stage mechanisms for her original shows. This study focused on $Lo{\ddot{i}}e$ Fuller's stage costumes which played a main role in expressing fantastic sculptures for the first time in costume, visual arts, and dance studies. This study clarifies the characteristics of the stage costumes in Fuller's dance and is estimated as pioneering and fundamental research.