Design and Symbolism of Underwear Shown in Movie Costumes -Focusing on Historical Dramas Set in Europe between the 16th and the 18th Century-
The purpose of this study was to investigate the underwear design shown in historical dramas set in Europe between the 16th and the 18th century, woman's bodies were highly restricted, in order to analyze the symbolism of the movie costume and provide basic data for the future education of the department of movie costume design. For a study method, literature relating to movie costumes and underwear as well as captured images from 29 historical dramas set in Europe between the 16th and the 18th century was reviewed. Among them, data from 17 movies where underwear and crinoline were observed was analyzed. Historical movies, set in the 18th century Europe exposed underwear more frequently and decisively than movies set in the 16th and 17th centuries. For the figure wearing underwear, its expression effect was maximized by the implication function of costumes. Underwear can easily express the time and space background and symbolize the character's social and economic position, attitudes, and values. In addition, the exposure of underwear can reveal characters' internal expressions, such as mental status, taste, temper, intention, mood, time and space display. The result of observing the underwear shown in movies reveals that underwear plays a subjective role in expressing ideal femininity as a woman of a particular age, modesty, social position symbolism and eroticism that depended on the situation. It is expected that the study will provide an opportunity to reconsider the function of underwear, which is different from the meaning of costume history, and its role as a means of communication by considering the change of underwear by age.