A Study on Aesthetic Characteristics of Drapery Costume

Abstract

Drapery costume started with using one fabric to loosely wrap around one's body without using technical skills or needlework. Drapery becomes a beautiful and indeterminate form of pleated costume which determines the costume silhouette and serves as an essential component for the composition of artistic costume. The purpose of this study was to examine the aesthetic characteristics of drapery costume using literature review. The study methods include considerations of the formation process of drapery costume with the analysis of costume in pictures. For modern costume designs, the study analyzed the designer's dress with a focus on drapery forms, which appeared in the collections from 2001 to 2007. First, drapery costume contains the beauty of human body. Drapery costume reveals the smallest movement of the body. The beauty of drapes, which is naturally revealed along the curve of the body, and the pleats which form on the soft cloth create the beauty of body. Second, drapery costume has rhythmical beauty. Drapery pleats feature not only functions, but also unique formativeness that provides rhythmicity and regular or irregular direction effects by line. Third, drapery costume features elegant beauty. Bias cutting by draping can effectively express the elegant characteristics of the fabric. In making a piece of clothing, the composition method can express elegant beauty by covering up the shortcomings of the fitting and by fitting to the body line without cutting the fabric, or fitting it by bias cutting.