Seoul Fashion Week

Forget the runways of London, Paris, New York and Milan, Seoul Fashion Week is here, and it’s definitely worth checking out. A huge deal for Korean designers, SFW is now in it’s 12^th year & for Fall/Winter 2012-2013, the event has a new location, new hosts and not being as globally important (yet…), non-fashiony ‘normal’ people can attend shows. Hurray! No need to get past pushy PRs here, just a cheap ticket purchase and you too can hob-nob with Korea’s fashionistas and celebrities.

As with K-Pop, Korean fashion designers are starting to gain fame around the world, with Lie Sang Bong showing at Paris Fashion Week recently (where he created controversy with his ‘black face’ show), and many other designers showing in New York. Global magazine editors & buyers are expected to attend SFW, so if you want to get ahead of the fashion crowd, make sure you get down to a show or two this week.

There are three parts to SFW (listed below) and also a Fashion Fair (similar to London’s Fashion Weekend for those who are familiar with it). Other events include Project Runway Korea, and a charity show (Donation Korea) which features the Mayor of Seoul walking the runway for Save the Children.

Seoul Collection – The crème de la crème of Korean designers. Tent 1.

Fashion Take-Off – Designers with brands older than 5 years, but not yet as established as the Seoul Collection brands. Tent 2.

Generation Next – Up and coming designers whose brands have been running between one and five years. Tent 3.

Seoul Fashion Fair – Exhibition of menswear, womenswear & accessories – you can wonder around and see even more up and coming talent. Monday to Thursday 10am – 7pm. Tent 4.

Menswear collections are being shown Monday & Tuesday, and the rest of the week is devoted to womenswear. The Seoul Fashion Week website has an English version, thankfully, and there is a little information about each collection, with designers stating what has influenced their collections & what you can expect from their FW12 shows. Our pick of the shows is womenswear label SONO DRS. Showing on Thursday 5^th, the collection promises to deliver “avant-garde aesthetics to its audience, inspired by shapes, structure and distortion.”