Seoul Fashion Week Reinforces Tranoi Partnership With Second Paris Showcase

SUPPLEMENT OF SEOUL: The South Korean fashion scene is heating up — in Paris.

The Tranoï trade show and the Seoul Metropolitan Government have revealed that a second edition of the Seoul Fashion Week showcase would be held during the upcoming Paris Fashion Week, as part of an expanded cooperation agreement signed last March.

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Reinforcing its partnership with Seoul Fashion Week is “a sign of Tranoi’s intention to be the creative hub of the fashion week, where [visitors] come to discover new brands, international trends,” said Tranoi managing director Boris Provost.

Beyond the Paris edition in October, this signals Tranoi’s desire to consolidate its position in Paris over 2023 before restarting its development of editions elsewhere from 2024, particularly in Asia, the trade show executive continued. A Shanghai edition, in partnership with Ontimeshow, had been initiated in 2019 but was curtailed by the outbreak of COVID-19.

As part of this renewed push, the Korean fashion showcase will be expanding its teams focused on international development in a bid to “develop representative fashion brands of [South] Korea that everyone would come to know,” Hyejeong Cho, director of the beauty fashion industry division in Seoul Metropolitan Government, told WWD in an email.

“The ultimate goal is to solidify the position of Seoul Fashion Week as the top Asian fashion week and one of five major global fashion weeks with continuous global networking and PR activities,” Cho continued, adding that Paris remained “the dreamland of all those who work in the fashion industry.”

The SMG also signed agreements with other cities, including London, Milan and Wuhan, China.

This is also a reflection of the changing face of South Korean fashion, driven by street fashion brands which have gathered pace in a domestic fashion industry previously dominated by large corporations, Cho continued.

“These street brands grew rapidly in just seven years into mega fashion brands with sales figures of 100 billion Korean won [or $72 million]compared to the 19 years of time that it took for Korea’s corporate fashion brand Kuho to reach its current mega status,” Cho explained.

Taking part in the spring 2023 edition of Tranoï, the first under the creative direction of Christelle Kocher, are Mmam, Lie, Sungju, Jeong Hee Jin, Seokwoon Yoon, Kumann Yoo Hye Jin, Tibaeg, Doucan and upcycling brand Ulkin, which Cho described as a still-novel approach for the Korean fashion scene but “a dark horse that is gaining spotlight thanks to its enormous public and commercial success.”

A three-brand fashion show featuring Lie, Kumann Yoo Hye Jin and Ulkin is also slated at 6 p.m. on Oct. 1 at Tranoï’s Palais Brogniart location.

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