Seoul Fashion Week SS22 kicks off in a celebration of cultural heritage

With its roster of 37 digital fashion films, Seoul Fashion Week is well underway. Its ongoing array of presentations are dedicated to capturing the past, present and future of Seoul’s cultural heritage, with an online platform intended to reach both domestic and foreign audiences.

This season, the event will additionally present designers that prioritise the environment, as well as a number of upcycled and vegan houses in the lineup. Viewers can tune in to the digital shows via the event’s official website, YouTube channels, Naver, VLive and TikTok, with channels that extend to a broad audience.

Now on its second day, Seoul has already seen some big names take to the virtual stage, including Beyoncé-backed Greedilous and Seokwoon Yoon, who has been highlighted through a number of prestigious Western media outlets.

In collaboration with the Cultural Heritage Administration, five of Seoul’s major palaces will be the stage for fashion week for the first time, in a bid to further represent the cultural elements of Seoul as a historical city. Next to the traditional components, TikTok implementation will also be evident throughout, with behind-the-scenes clips and video challenges available to all users.

The event kicked off with performances by hip-hop artist Dpr Live, set with the backdrop of World Heritage site Gyeonghuigung Palace. Popular singer Heize is set to perform on Monday’s opening, followed by a finale with OBSG, both presented on a stage at Deoksugung Stone Exhibition.

“The collection of representative designers will be presented to the world at the same time, set on the stage of 600 years of cultural heritage that embraces Seoul’s history, current dynamism and future potential,” said the Seoul Metropolitan Government, in a statement. “We will promote the charm of Seoul and turn the competitiveness of the fashion industry into an opportunity to sell.”

Seoul is putting an extra emphasis on the programme this year, as part of its goal to revitalise the K-fashion industry. It recently partnered with London Fashion Week, in an exchange that saw two prestigious Korean brands take part in the event thanks to the British Fashion Council and Seoul Government support.