Symbolic meanings of women's dress on Korean film from the fifties

• Published in: Fashion and textiles Vol. 2; no. 1; p. 1
• Main Authors: Yoon, Jinyoung, Yim, Eunhyuk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer Nature B.V 01-02-2015
• ISSN: 2198-0802
• DOI: 10.1186/s40691-014-0024-3

The mid-20th century, covering the end of the colonial rule and the Korean War, represented for Korea a period of tumultuous changes in the people's way of life as well as their value system. Women grew more active in professional and social capacities, and began to claim a status equal to that of men as their economic role within the family expanded. The just claim for a foray beyond the family boundaries, coming from women married to upper-middle-class husbands and consequently enjoying an opulent lifestyle, becomes a major theme of the film <Madame Freedom>. In it, we find a variety of female roles, ranging from not just the then oft-discussed 'liberated wives', but also to college students, single professionals, housewives with husbands in positions of prestige, and businesswomen. These characters' appearance, including their dress, makeup and body awareness, also function as symbols expressing the message and social role each character represents. The study examines the 1956 film <Madame Freedom> to explore how the conflict between the social environment surrounding the female characters, conventional values and self - image manifest themselves in their dress and the changes thereof in both family and broader social life, and to determine what symbolic significance such manifestations have.