Seoul Fashion Week returned for the first time in three years and boasted the largest-scale runway ever.
The landmark DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza), located inside the Dongdaemun History & Culture Park, was utterly transformed into a 120-meter-long runway that cuts through the bridge space under the plaza.
The opening show of 'SONGZIO,' a first-generation Korean designer house, was held on this runway, the longest in the history of Seoul Fashion Week. About 1,000 spectators filled the seats, and a large crowd gathered around Oullim Square. Normally, it was where about a dozen people would come and go, but on this day, it was full of people from the fashion industry who wore black biker shorts and walkers or long straight hair and overfit jackets.
What made this runway show more remarkable is that there were more than 20 celebrities who participated in SONGZIO's Spring/Summer 2023 collection show.
The designer explained that the theme of the 63rd collection was 'ECLIPSE' and was inspired by Dante's new song. The opening performance was done by the dance crew 'HOOK,' which received much love from the popular Mnet program 'Street Woman Fighter' and is led by Aiki.
After the opening show, actor Cha Seung Won, Bae Jeong Nam, Lee Ki Woo, model Han Hye Jin, and Aiki appeared as runway models and showed off their charisma on the longest runway.
SONGZIO International's CEO and creative director, Song Jae Woo, said, "It was a meaningful event to be able to prove the status of Korean fashion with the enthusiastic interest and response of influential guests from South Korea and overseas. We will lead the fashion industry by designing with SONGZIO's unique color." SONGZIO operates 64 stores in Korea, established a branch in Paris, France, this year, and is aiming to achieve sales of 90 billion KRW (~63 million USD) this year through proactive brand expansion in Korea and abroad.
As a fan of SWF, it was a pleasant surprise seeing Aiki here. Lol. Most Korean female models tend to be at least 6-7 inches taller so having Aiki walk the runway was a change.