The modern society entered the society of material abundance after the 20th century, and the leisures of the modern man have enhanced due to the development of science and technology.
With the enhancement of the standard of living, the interest towa...
The modern society entered the society of material abundance after the 20th century, and the leisures of the modern man have enhanced due to the development of science and technology.
With the enhancement of the standard of living, the interest toward health and exercise increased at the same time. Thus, sports and leisure culture began to develop. As a result, sportswear market rapidly grew within the fashion industry. The meaning of sportswear expanded with the expansion of sportswear brand’s fever which started from simple running shoes into various other items.
Athleisure refers to the acceptance of sports as a lifestyle through prevalence and expansion of sports. Among the trend, a new fashion term called athleisure look appeared. The sales of athleisure look exceeded the sales of denim, and the increasing numbers of experts are expecting the growth of athleisure look brand. Athleisure look is settled as a trend of wearing everyday dress while exceeding the general utilization of sportswear. With the expansion of the athleisure look market, the consumers are demanding not only the functionality and practicability but also the unique and high-quality fashion design. Therefore, it is time to develop new detail and material for the athleisure look design.
Few precedent studies related with the athleisure look extracted functionality and practicability as basic characteristics and extracted sensuality and exhibitionism as additional characteristics.
Functionality and practicability are the most important elements in contemporary fashion, and the tendency toward comfortable clothing added with functionality and practicability is every increasing even in the realm of everyday dresses. Interests on sports and sportswear increased along with the increase in the interests on the body, and the repulsion toward exposure decreased with the tendency to flaunt solid body. Thus, clothes emphasizing sensuality can easily be found on the collections of various designers.
The purpose of the study is to establish an academic foundation on the athleisure look which is recently emerging as an important trend in fashion, and to suggest the possibility in utilization of design in the field of casual fashion in accordance with the characteristics.
The study analyzed the characteristics through theoretical consideration and case analysis on the athleisure look emerged in the contemporary fashion, and tried to develop a unique athleisure look design by applying new cut-out technique.
Cut-out refers to a wide cuts of a certain part. Cut-out shows functionality and practicability by making clothes active through transforming the structural formation of clothes. The body parts revelaed on the cut-out parts grants sensuality and exhibitionism. Also, cut-out can be referred as an important technique showing various fashion images including beauty, optical illusion effect, decorativeness and others by making patterns out of cut-out method. Nowadays, various attempts applying cut-out technique are emerging in fashion design. However, cut-out technique applied to athleisure look is currently insignificant.
The study combined literature research and empirical research. The study prepared foundation for the study through the consideration of the concept and origin or athleisure look by referring to the preceding s and books related with sportswear for the literature research.
The study analyzed the cases of athleisure look shown in the contemporary fashion by focusing on the related books, internet materials, newss, and magazines for the empirical research.
Moreover, the study considered the concept of cut-out technique for the application of the production technique and analyzed the cases of cut-out technique shown in the contemporary fashion. Six works were designed and produced based on the analyzed data.
The results of the study are as follows.
The characteristics of ahtleisure look were deducted to include functionality, sensuality, and exhibitionism. Functionality was expressed as high-functioning materials and silhouette which are convenient for activities. Sensuality was expressed as materials adhering to the exposure of body, and exhibitionism was expressed as high price activities and sportswear, and a well-organized body.
Cut-out technique was used partially on the clothes rather than on the whole clothes, and was shown in various motive forms including straight-line type , elliptical shape, triangular shape, rectagular shape and others. For the characteristics of cut-out technique, functionality, sensuality, and decorativeness were deducted. Functional characteristic was shown as a ventilation effect of cut-out parts or causing a free movement of the joint parts including wrists or elbows of clothes. Sensuality was expressed by directly and indirectly exposing the body, and the decorativeness was emphasized with cut-outs of various forms.
The study developed and actually produced six pairs of athleisure designs for the unique and high-quality fashion in the casual field by introducing functionality, sensuality, and decorativeness which are the characteristics of cut-out technique on the athleisure look based on the analysis.
The study is meaningful for suggesting the direction of new fashion design by theoretically considering the athleisure look and applying cut-out technique which is one of the decorative techniques by highly evaluating the possibility of utilization of athleisure look in the contemporary fashion. Continuous attention on the athleisure look shall create high degree of value in the field of sports fashion design.
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