Wedding dresses have developed along with a modern wedding culture. The 21st century wedding ceremonies of Korea and China have evolved from traditional complex procedures ; however, the demand for wedding garments for modern people is still important Consumer’s demand for wedding dresses has become more individualized and diversified according to a diversified wedding culture; consequently, an economic and practical variable wedding dress that can change dress styles has received positive responses. This study compared and analyzed the preferred designs of Korean and Chinese women when selecting wedding dresses, awareness of variable wedding dresses, and design preference type to develop variable wedding dresses of a high satisfaction level that satisfy Korean and Chinese consumers, and suggests a design for a variable wedding dress that corresponds to various procedures instead of a wedding dress that can be worn only once.

To investigate the status of a Korean an Chinese variable wedding dress, this study conducted a questionnaire on women in their 20-30's (the optimal age to marry) from January 10 to November 23 in 2014. Women who reside in Seoul Metropolitan City and the capital region were selected for Korea, and women from Zhengzhou (a central city of industrial zone) were selected for China. That total of 525 questionnaires (249 copies of Korea and 276 copies of China) were used in this study. We subsequently conducted frequency analysis, t-test, and cross analysis using SPSS program to suggested a variable wedding dress based on the findings.

The results of analysis are as follows.
1. Korean women preferred 'luxurious' image, 'mermaid' silhouette, 'white' color, 'silk' material, and 'off-shoulder' neckline design the most; however, Chinese women preferred 'elegant' image, 'mermaid' silhouette, 'white' color, 'lace' material, and 'off-shoulder' neckline design where only image and material of dress differed.
2. The Chinese showed a greater interest in wedding dresses than Korea. Wedding dress purchase type and customized rental was higher for Korea versus higher custom purchase intent in China. The internet was the highest method to obtain wedding dress information in Korea versus the use of both the internet and specialty stores in China. The contents that did not show differences between the two nations were the wanting to wear 2 wedding dresses and selecting a dress that 'best suits herself.'
3. Korean and Chinese women were unaware of variable designs. Few Chinese women experienced variable design products, but some Korean women had experience using fashion goods. For variable design advantages, Korean women pointed to practicality versus Chinese women pointed to diversity. For the preferred variable type of dress, Korean women preferred a 'detachable' style and Chinese women preferred 'replacement.'
4. This study suggested a variable wedding dress design with elements that Korean and Chinese women 20-35 years of age preferred by identifying the design concept and characteristics of design elements by adding the wedding dress trends of 2015. Each design for women of the two countries influenced several dresses by changing into several dresses according to type of variable dress designs as silhouette changes, variable by technology subsidiary materials, and variable by ways of wearing.

This study provides a variable wedding dress design that increase practicality and economic feasibility according to the procedure of changed Korean and Chinese wedding culture instead of a disposable dress worn only during wedding ceremonies.

• Lijuan Zhang(Kyung Hee University)
• Chahyun Kim(Kyung Hee University)