Since its launch in 2000, Seoul Fashion Week (SFW) has come a long way, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It has transformed from a local fashion showcase into a global platform that propels Korean designers onto the international stage.

Celebrating the milestone, SFW’s 2025 Fall-Winter event ran last week, filling its venue, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in central Seoul, with the ambition to lay the ground once again for Korean fashion’s growing influence in the global scene through various programs, including its very first Seoul Fashion Forum.

However, despite these efforts, a sense of emptiness lingered in the DDP. The cold, below-zero temperatures seemed to keep fashion enthusiasts away, rather than attracting them to the festive atmosphere and innovative creations by Korean designers.

Hosted and organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, SFW advertised that it would be offering diverse events from fashion shows of 19 Korean brands, eight presentations and a tradeshow with 130 fashion brands, alongside public events such as a DJ booth and food trucks at the square and first-come-first-serve basis fashion show ticket giveaways.

Opening with local brand HANNAH SHIN’s F/W collection show, the venue seemed to ignite vibrant energy, with reporters crowding to take snaps of celebrities posing after a brief walk-down of its iconic blue carpeted stairs on their way to the fashion show venue. However, the festive mood couldn’t be maintained as the fashion week progressed.

The short blue carpet sessions, featuring a weak lineup of celebrities just 20 minutes before the fashion shows, were held two to three times a day, hours apart. Along with two food trucks and a small DJ booth, these elements seemed too mediocre to attract public attention and create the festival-like atmosphere typically expected of a citywide fashion event.

“As the K-culture fever sweeps across the globe, K-fashion brands are expanding their reach beyond domestic markets by opening stores in Paris, Shanghai and Japan … I believe Seoul Fashion Week, along with the dedicated efforts of passionate and committed designers, has served as a crucial channel for the growth of K-fashion, which is showing its strength worldwide,” Joo Yong-tae, Seoul Deputy Mayor for Economy, said as he opened the Seoul Fashion Forum, Wednesday.

SFW initially focused on the domestic market, featuring well-established local designers, before shifting its attention to nurturing fresh talent to lead the K-fashion scene with programs like Generation Next. After surviving the COVID-19 pandemic with contactless fashion shows in 2020, the event has since shifted its focus to helping local designers enter the global market.

However, selecting participating brands exclusively from promising yet relatively new designers seemed ineffective in capturing the global fashion industry’s attention. It offered little incentive for international buyers and industry professionals to engage or pursue business deals with the featured brands.

This fashion week’s line-up did include some aspiring local designers, slowly getting spotlights from global consumers like EENK, AJOBYAJO and BONBOM, yet encompassing well-established brands offering the first look of its F/W collection at the event could have leveraged SFW to gaining more global agents or consumers to come to the shows.

“After reviewing the list of brands currently featured at Seoul Fashion Week, I had a question on what the clear message is. I think that we need to create an environment where, if international buyers come to these shows, they can see a diverse range of brands that can introduce Korean fashion to customers interested in Korea and Korean products overseas. This would naturally lead to more international buyers voluntarily seeking out opportunities here,” Chung Joon-ho, CEO of Lotte Department Store, said during his session during the forum, noting SFW should seek to adopt strategies of other major fashion weeks.

Chung added, “For fashion week events in any major global city, there are many events like parties and side events where professionals can network. It is an extremely important factor in giving people a reason to visit that city (for a fashion week).”