By Honorary Reporter Wendy Palomo from the Philippines
Photos = Dianne Pineda-Kim
Videos = Wendy Palomo

The Cheonho-dong branch of Hyundai Department Store in Seoul on Oct. 19 was bustling with parents and kids excited over the third annual Seoul Kids Fashion Show.

It was the children's turn to shine on the runway after the highly anticipated Seoul Fashion Week held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza ended the day before. The founder of the kids' event, Australian photographer and creative director Natalie Rapisarda, came all the way from Sydney to see youngsters hit the runway.

"This is our third fashion show. We've done it every October since 2017 and it's growing each time. I'm really proud of the success we've had in the number of models who've joined, and we've also had more designers participating," she said in between breaks.

The show is the country's biggest of its kind, and Rapisarda said she saw the potential for growth in children's fashion so she started the show as a Seoul Fashion Week for kids. Given the huge interest in and the marketability of children's wear that she witnessed at the Seoul event, she created an opportunity to showcase child models and designers.

The show's director Moon Sae-mi said this year's event saw the participation of nine children's labels and around 900 kids who applied to be part of this year's show, with just 90 of them chosen. "It was tough selecting the kids. All of them were cute so they were hard to select," Moon said.

The recruitment of child models also extended to those from multicultural families, and more of them could join the show later.

Rapisarda said she travels extensively to attend fashion shows abroad but has kept coming back to Seoul since 2013 specifically for fashion events.

"I've done a lot of work in the fashion industry. Two things I've noticed about Korea are emerging opportunities for children's fashion and the lack of a professional platform to showcase designer labels. And talented models, they have no way to learn how professionals learn (to walk on) the runway and how to (develop)confidence and skills, so I took this opportunity in 2017 and just tested it out to see how it went. And yeah, it was a nice reception and has been growing since," she said.

Given growing interest in the show, the organizers are contacting more designers and brands to join next year's event, and a longer duration is also possible if participation and attendance expand.



chaey0726@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.