A cross-cultural study of the proximity of clothing to self between millennial women in South Korea and Mongolia

Abstract

As a part of material culture, clothing embodies the cultural specificity based on the influence of that culture on individuals. The cultural value model of Hofstede broadly describes the dimensional characteristics of each country. At the same time, the proximity of clothing to a self-scale represents the level of psychological closeness of clothing to identity. Even though it is theoretically correct that these two concepts—culture and clothing that expresses one’s self—are related, few studies have highlighted this connection. In this study, we investigated the effect of cultural values on how the individuals involve their clothing with their social identity by focussing on the differences between two culturally different countries: South Korea and Mongolia. Quantitative surveys from 179 in South Korea and 262 in Mongolia and t-tests showed cultural differences in both countries’ individualism and indulgence vs their restrained disposition. The multiple regression analysis results revealed that uncertainty avoidance and indulgence correlate with three dimensions in the proximity of clothing to self: clothing to self as structure, clothing as a response to others’ judgements, and clothing-related to self-esteem. The moderating effect of each country was not found. This result implies that knowing the cultural values of a particular group can infer their clothing consciousness. Thus, when fashion companies target millennial women in South Korea and Mongolia and establish a more significant presence abroad, examining a country’s or a group’s culture helps identify the target market's clothing perceptions.