Browsing by Subject "2000-luku"

Objectives. This study examines the frequency of lacy materials in 21st century wedding dresses. The lacy materials are very often seen in wedding dresses, and their popularity seems to last year after year. In the 21st century the lacy materials are presumably used also more and more boldly without a backing fabric. The purpose of the lacy materials can be to highlight some part of the dress or to give a certain impression. By studying the frequency of the lacy materials in wedding dresses we get information about the existing Western wedding dress customs. The research questions are: 1. How common are the lacy materials in wedding dresses? A. How different years or seasons are associated with the prevalence of lacy materials in wedding dresses? B. To which part in the wedding dress is the lacy material placed most often? C. To which part in the wedding dress is the lacy material placed most often without the backing fabric? Methods. The subject of the study were the wedding dress pictures of two Finnish wedding magazines. From each magazine copies representing summer and winter in 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015 were chosen. The study material thus consisted of the wedding dress pictures from 24 wedding magazines. The data was analyzed by using a quantitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. Lacy material was found from 74 % of the studied wedding dresses in total, and at least in 50 % of the dresses each year. The years were associated to the phenomenon in such a way that the number of lacy materials in dresses had clearly grown from 2000 to 2015. Seasons were not associated with how many dresses contained lacy material, but the location of the lacy material varied between summer and winter. In dresses which were photographed from the front there was lacy material most on the breast and without the backing fabric on the neckline. In dresses which were photographed from the back there was lacy material most often on the upper back, both with and without the backing fabric. Based on the results it can be concluded that the lacy materials are a perennial favorite in the Western 21st century wedding dresses, and used especially to strongly emphasize femininity.