In the intensely competitive global fashion market, the use of cultural elements to enhance design has become increasingly widespread. However, there is a lack of research on challenges and opportunities associated with integrating cultural elements of Minhwa into fashion design. Moreover, diverse approaches to incorporate Korean cultural elements into contemporary fashion designs are still needed. This study aims to reveal the real-world challenges relating to the incorporation of Korean cultural elements, including Minhwa, into fashion design and to clarify the possibility of applying Lin’s cultural levels to cultural aspects in accordance with experts’ views. To establish a theoretical foundation, the literature review on cultural design and Minhwa studies was conducted. It analyzes Minhwa to gain an understanding of the characteristics associated with different cultural levels. In-depth interviews with fashion industry professionals and Minhwa artists were conducted to ascertain their attitudes toward Minhwa use. The study’s major findings were threefold. First, the cultural design facilitates the introduction, promotion, understanding, and maintenance of the culture. Since Minhwa offers rich inspiration linked to Korean culture, Minhwa-related designs can provide new perspectives while still having commercial potential. Second, however, the limitations of existing cultural designs included their being outdated, superficial without interpretation, unsophisticated, or limited. Furthermore, the use of Minhwa is limited since it is difficult to avoid creating superficial and unsophisticated designs in the real world. Third, approaching Minhwa at different cultural levels can promote diverse thinking and reduce the challenges of Minhwa use in design, but the major challenge remains visual expression.

최근 들어 다양한 스트레스로 인한 병적인 해석이 마음의 내면으로부터 만들어낸다는 말들이 과학적으로 증명되면서 예술치료에 대한 개념이 새롭게 부각되기 시작했다. 예술심리치료는 전문가의 예술작품보다 치료 개념에서 사용되어질 때, 작품성보다는 창작과정을 통해 그려지는 과정에서 내면세계를 탐구하는 심리치료의 가능성을 보고자한다. 때문에 예술을 매개체로 사람의 심리적 변화를 탐색하여 치료하려는 예술치료사들이 점점 증가하고 있다. 이와 관련 선행논문들을 살펴보면 김인수(2013)는 무속원형적 관점에서 본 민화의 시각성 연구, 한유진 (2014)은 민화의 주술적 기원과 상징연구를 호랑이를 중심으로 하였다. 신미경(2014)은 분석심리학 관점에서 본 민화의 상징적 의미와 예술치료적 가치탐색 연구 등에서 다양한 활용매체도구로 이용되고 있음이 보고되고 있다. 그리고 임상 현장에서 예술매체의 활용이 다양하게 구성되어 재미와 흥미를 유발해 감정표출이 더 자유로워짐을 알 수 있다. 이에 본 논고는 우리의 전통적 맥락을 함께하고, 민족 신앙적 요소가 많은 무속의 원형에서 민화의 심리치료적 요소들을 찾아보는데 목적이 있다. 이러한 관점에서 민화에서 심리치료적요소를 찾아 그 의미와 가능성을 살펴본다. 또한 한국 전통사상 속에 내재한 무속과 민화에 나타나는 원형들의 연관성과 상호작용을 살펴봄으로써 심리치료의 매개요소를 다루어 보았다.

The current study aims to link Korean tradition to modern culture; to re-produce patterns of lotus depicted in Minwha, The study also aims to discover the beauty of Korean tradition and to modernize it. The current study is based upon document searches(including research papers) and the Internet searches. Through these searches, it investigates the concept of Minhwa, the origin of lotus depiction and its symbolic meanings, the traits of such pattern. Based upon this investigation, the study attempts to modernize the patterns of lotus and apply the modernized patterns to designing shirts. The process which employs the lotus patterns illustrated in Minhwa to shirt design includes four sub-processes: selecting, allocating, coloring, and selecting production techniques. The subprocess of selecting patterns is two folded: the first stage covers carbon-copying the distinctive features of lotus, lotus leaf, lotus bud, lotus pip, and lotus stem; the second stage is making these features suitable to shirt sizes. For the process of coloring those shirts, Piccaso’s work(Pablo Picasso, 1881～1973) has been selected and the colors in his work have been adopted to dye the rest of the shirts as well as the lotus features. The process of selecting production techniques includes ornament tail in order to modernize the patterns allocated in the shirts. Once these processes are completed, the shirts are made on a scale of real-life size. These processes of creating shirt design by modernizing traditional patterns will hopefully contribute to researchers expanding the domain of shirt design.