The Preferred Fashion Style and Self-image that Korean Career Women's Seek According to Daily Situations

The objectives of this study are to identify the self-image and preferred fashion styles that Korean career women seek in different daily situations, and to propose a positioning map in accords with the findings. The study conducted a survey and in-depth interviews. The study used twenty items of self-image adjectives extracted from existing studies, and eighteen fashion style stimuli collected by examining women's wear brands. The study surveyed 329 career women. Their daily situation was classified into five situations; external meeting and presentation, ordinary work, wedding and family gathering, blind date or date, and meeting with friends and acquaintances. The analysis results of this study showed that self-image and fashion style preferences are relevant to daily situation. The image most sought in external meetings and presentation was the 'Elegant' image, and the image most sought in meetings with friends and acquaintances was the 'active' image. Women on dates or blind dates sought the 'feminine' image the most, however they preferred to avoid this image during external meetings and presentations. Among fashion styles, the 'elegant/classic' style was most preferred, and the 'sexy/avant-garde' style had the lowest preference among all the styles. 'Mannish' was preferred in ordinary work and meeting with friends and acquaintances, however, it was shown as having the lowest preference level in blind dates or dates. The 'romantic/natural' style was highly preferred in meeting with friends and acquaintances, however it had a low level of preference for external meetings and presentations. This study has significance in providing practical information to utilize in fashion industry by identifying the relationship between self-image and preferred fashion style sought by career women according to daily situation, and using the results to propose a positioning map.