Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association (대한가정학회지)

The Korean Home Economics Association (대한가정학회)
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Fashion as Art - Based on Morris Weitz's Open Concept of Art -

예술로서의 패션 - Morris Weitz의 '예술에 대한 열린 개념'을 중심으로 -

  • Published : 2007.01.30
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Abstract

This study investigated the concept of fashion as art by examining whether or not university students, rather than professional art critics, consider fashion to be art. The survey subjects were 146 university students, randomly chosen from textiles and clothing-related classes offered in 4 different universities in Seoul. A survey with the following 3 questions was conducted between September 2005 and June 2006: 1. What is art? 2. Is fashion art? 3. Explain the reason why fashion is, or is not, art. Morris Weitz's open concept of art is applied to discuss whether fashion can be classified as art. According to Weitz, there are no universal commonalities among arts. Therefore, art can be defined based on similarities among preexisting art forms and movements. As a result, respondents mentioned the following as characteristics of art: expressiveness, creativity, influence on viewers' emotion, tendency to make life bountiful, particular behaviors or objects, something valuable, formalities, etc. These answers parallel the features of art discussed by professional art critics. In addition, 12 of the 146 respondents considered fashion was not art, 20 placed it on the border while the remaining 114 affirmed a positive relation. Respondents who considered fashion to be art or placed it on the border listed the similar features mentioned in the answers to the first question as similarities between fashion and art. On the other hand, features of fashion such as commercial, whimsical, impermanent and utilitarian properties were answered as dissimilarities between fashion and art. However, these dissimilarities do not serve as obstacles for considering fashion as art, since Weitz's open concept of art does not assume the existence of universal traits of art. Therefore, referring to Weitz's open concept of art, fashion can be considered as art, since reasonable similarities between fashion and art were designated by the majority of respondents.

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