During the Chosun Dynasty, 14th Century Ancient Korea, there lived a league of professional female entertainers, the Kisaeng. many historians and critics deny their very existence due to their sexual connotations and dismiss them as mere prostitutes. However, these women were the very leaders in fashion, art, music and literature of their time. And, although they originated from the lowest of the social class ladderm the Kisaeng, were intelligent women with a strong heart and mind. The Kisaeng were a special group of women in the Chosun Dynasty who had the freedom and knowledge to converse and criticise wordly matters with men of high rank, including royalty.
With a manipulated image by Contemporary Korean body paint and tattoo artist, Kim Joon's BIRDLAND-ARMANI (2008), I have tried to convey the life and values of the Kisaeng living in the present world of the 21st Century. This image reflects the taboos of naked skin and the ideals of feminine beauty that were at issue in the South Korean society of the past and present.
Through layering and pleating of translucent and contrasting fabrics, I will be addressing the Chosun Dynasty's Neo-Confucius ideals of concealing the female body as well as the beauty practices of revealing the female form in the West. An infusion of Korean patternmaking techniques with Western style draping methods, my womenswear collection will reveal and conceal a contemporary representation of the Kisaeng.
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