Kwon Sang-woo, global ambassador for the upcoming Seoul Fashion Week (VIZU Creative Partners)

Seoul Fashion Week will fully return with in-person runway shows next month, presenting spring-summer 2023 collections by 30 Korean designers at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.

The country’s largest fashion event will take place from Oct. 11 to 15 indoors and outdoors at DDP with participation by 23 established designers for Seoul Collection and seven rookie designers with less than seven years in the business for the Generation Next shows.

Designer Park Choon-moo will open Seoul Fashion Week with her collection for Demoo Parkchoonmoo. This will be followed by an outdoor runway show by Songzio.

Fashion brands are returning to DDP this season with 29 of the 30 participating designers showing at the spaceship-like monolith designed by the late star architect Zaha Hadid, smack in the center of the bustling fashion retail district of Dongdaemun.

Lie Sang Bong is the sole brand showing elsewhere, turning the main street of Insa-dong into a runway at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 13.

Four to eight brands will present runway shows on each day of the five-day Seoul Fashion Week.

Some 200 buyers from 23 countries will visit during Seoul Fashion Week, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which organizes the biannual fashion event.

A trade show will be held in a hybrid format, combining online and in-person formats. A total of 86 Korean designer brands will show their collections at 67 separate booths and four joint booths set up in a 2,992-square-meter hall at DDP.

The fashion show is open to the public. Applications for non-fungible token invitations can be submitted on SFW's official website through Friday and invitations will be sent to 1,500 randomly selected applicants on Oct. 5.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will run “QR Stores” at DDP and Gwanghwamun Square. Five designer brands will set up stores at Gwanghwamun Square and 37 brands will set up stores at DDP, where people can make purchases at discounted prices using QR codes.

Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo is the global ambassador of this edition of Seoul Fashion Week. He debuted as a model on the runway of Sonzio in 1993 before going into acting.

Actor Lee Jung-jae was the global ambassador of the previous fashion week, featuring fall-winter 2022 collections. The event was held in an online-offline hybrid format.

More information on show schedules and participating designers are available at SFW’s official website.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)