Understanding the Ideal Female Beauty on Advertisement Images in Modern Korean Society through the Iconological Comprehension of Renaissance Portraits

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study investigated the ideal female beauty in advertisement images through the iconological comprehension of Renaissance portraits and explored the longitudinal change of the ideal female beauty in modern Korean society. A total of 146 cover images on Hyang-Jang magazine, which is the company magazine of AMORE PACIFIC Group, from 1972 to 2012 were selected as the data. These images were divided into 10-year units for analysis using iconological criteria, which were pose, shape of eyes and lip, and hairstyle. The way presenting the cover images on Hyang-Jang magazine had changed in order to emphasize female body, self-satisfaction and independence of female, and sexual attractiveness of female. The results of this study implied that the change of ideal female beauty had been affected by socio-cultural contexts of modern Korean society that has industrialized and democratized in a short period of time.