• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to investigate the formative characteristics and the aesthetic values of denim dresses from the 19th century until the $20^{th}$ century and analyze those changes shown in Paris Milan London New York collections from 2001 S/S to 2013/14 F/W. The results of this study are as follows; 1) In the mid-$19^{th}$ century, the denim pants were working suits. In the 1920's, they started to be recognized as ordinary clothing and they were supplied to women in World War II. In the 1950's, denim pants stood for youth and resistance, and they became popular among teenagers. In the 1960's, hippies who protested against the Vietnamese War would wear worn-out denim pants symbolizing peace and freedom. As they became more common in the 1970's, people all around the world wore the clothes. In the 1980's~90's, the waves of high class brand fashions brought in sensualism, extravagance, reactionary tendency, and so forth. Consequently, the aesthetic values of denim dresses have connotations of practicality, resistibility, ornamentation and femininity. 2) Practicality in recent collections is represented in classic fashion which features typical details and raw denim and modern fashion which is made with glossy denim and minimized details. Resistibility is represented in avant-garde fashion which features deformed or over-layered jackets and pants with damaged denim and vintage fashion which is made with wash-out and wild stone denim. Ornamentation is represented in ethnic fashion which is made with wash-out denim and ethnic prints and romantic fashion which features details such as ruffle, frill and shirring as well as lace and flowery decorations. Femininity is represented in sexy fashion which designs to expose or to focus in women's body and elegant fashion which is made with soft and glossy denim and hourglass silhouette.