Seoul Fashion Overview

The History of Korean Fashion

Thanks to the slow rise of Japanese Fashion, interest in Asian fashion has begun to increase Globally and all eyes have turned to Seoul. The first fashion show in Korea was held back in 1945 although nothing came of this as the government forbade fashion shows to continue. The 1970's saw Korean fashion take rise again as all the designers came forward to showcase their ideas and designs.

Things were gradually on the rise thanks to globalisation and an influx of foreign students coming to Korea and Korean designers leaving to find out more about what the world was wearing. Thanks to this, an exchange of an ideas was able to happen and lead to a boom in Korean Fashion.

The period after this saw a massive slow down in Korean fashion due to a wave of political and social issues such as changing economy, different governments, bifurcation, etc. Due to the economic crisis, there was a lack of financial interest in Fashion and the industry dwindled. 

The 2000's saw the 3rd rise in Korean fashion, where Korean fashion got accepted and more importantly, went global. Thanks to events such as Seoul Fashion Week, Korea was able to showcase its designers and models to the world. 

2011 saw even more popularity coming Korea's way, thanks to the spread of the Hallyu Wave. Starting in the 1990's, it slowly spread through Asia and in 2009 it began to spread over to the West. 2011 saw the real rise of the Korean Wave in the West and now Fashion and Idols are closely linked with each other.

Related Links

• Seoul Fashion Week – OHP for Seoul Fashion Week.
• Korea Fashion Association – OHP for the Korean Fashion Association.
• Korean Models – A great site showing off Korea's popular models.
• The Fashion & Culture Association - OHP for the Korean Fashion & Culture Association.
• INAPad - A collection of international model portfolios.