For the first time in three years, Seoul Fashion Week will be returning to physical shows and events. After its in-person presentations cancellation when the coronavirus pandemic first broke out in early 2020, the city followed suit with many other to opt for virtual shows throughout the past seasons.

"We have internally decided to cancel the Fall/Winter 2020 Seoul Fashion Week and will notify the concerned parties of the decision in a few days. However, we will seek ways to support and help designers in Korea by hosting other international design fairs instead," said an official representative from the Seoul Metropolitan Government in charge of the biannual fashion week to The Korea Herald back then.

Seoul Fashion Week was initially scheduled for March 17-21. However, even before the announcement, a couple of local and international designers had already pulled out of the event, and a series of events was also canceled.

Initially, the official stated that Seoul Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2021 would still be held in October as planned. But that plan was called off as well.

 

 

 

 

 

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Recently, the city of Seoul proudly announced as the organizer that the upcoming SFW will take place at its usual spot Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), from March 18 to 23 for the Fall/Winter 2022 season.

The organization is currently accepting applications from potential brands via its official website.

"We are looking for fashion brands who wish to participate in the 2022 Spring Seoul Fashion Week, which is promoted to promote the revitalization of the high value-added fashion industry by discovering fashion brands and nurturing them into world-class brands," said Mayor of Seoul on the website.

Announcements of the selected participants are expected to be published on January 21, 2022. The week-long event will feature the regular Seoul Collection, in addition to Generation Next and the B2B2C trade show.

SFW and EXO's Kai

Hosted and organized by Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Fashion Week is a bi-annual series of global fashion business events. With the goal to become one of the most prominent fashion weeks of the world, just like the ones coming from the fashion capitals — New York, Paris, London, and Milan — the fashion week is held strategically in March and October.

Its regular Seoul Collection is a segment that features a series of top Korean designers' fashion shows. The segment is one of the largest fashion business events in Korea after its initial launch in 2000. Commonly known as "The Collection", it has become the most distinguished segment among the Korean fashion industry.

Four younger brands and designers, the organizer introduced Generation Next. It is built to foster up-and-coming designers, with the participants are restricted to designers of independent fashion brands that have only one to five years. Often features uncommon perceptions and unique ideas, the segment serves as a gateway for designers of the next generation.

With 2021 being the year that the fashion world truly embraced K-Pop stars, the sensational "dancing machine" Kai from EXO was recently appointed as the ambassador of Seoul Fashion Week Spring Summer 2022. 

The SFW SS2022 itself took place virtually, starting last October 7. However, prior to the event, coinciding with the 21st anniversary of the South Korea's most prominent fashion event in September 2021, SFW launched several promotional videos that instantly became viral.

Kai's impeccable fashion sense makes him a prominent fashion influencer that also made Gucci fall for him and appointed him as ambassador in 2019. Several campaigns and collaborations were born afterward.

"I use clothes to express myself. I used to only think about how to sing or how to dance, but now that I've been a singer for ten years, I came to think about how to express myself as an artist," said the South Korean idol.

It is safe to say that we can expect more Hallyu sensation in the upcoming runways of Seoul Fashion Week.