(also published in Korea.net: Seoul Kids Fashion Show)

The venue at Hyundai Department Store Cheonho was bustling with parents and kids excited for the 3^rd Seoul Kids Fashion Show (SKFS) to begin last Sunday, October 19, 2019.

It was the kids turn to shine in the runway on Sunday after the highly anticipated Seoul Fashion Week held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza ended the day before. Natalie Rapisarda, Founder of SKFS, came all the way from Australia to make this runway dream a reality to the kids. “This is our 3^rd Fashion Show. We’ve done it every October since 2017 and it’s growing each time and I’m really proud of the success we’ve had in terms of the number of models that have joined, and we’ve also had more designers participating.” Natalie explained in between breaks despite the busy schedule of the whole day affair.

Saemi Moon, SKFS Director, was happy to say that this year’s Fashion Show had grown to 9 children’s designer labels, namely: Bubble Kiss, Topten Kids, Petite Hailey, Mumu & Baba, Mamasalon, ÉCLAIR, Poisson, Plusboo and, Polham Kids. There were around 900 kids who applied to be part of this year’s SKFS but only 90 were chosen to walk the runway for the 9 brands. “It was tough selecting the kids. All are cute so it was hard to select,” she said. Indeed, all the kids were so natural on stage. They were professional and yet still retain their adorable spontaneity.

Natalie has extensively traveled for fashion week globally but has put Seoul in her heart. She has been coming back since 2013 specifically for the fashion week events. In 2017, she founded SKFS. “I’ve done a lot of work in the fashion industry. One of the events I’ve noticed about Korea was the emerging opportunities for children’s fashion and the fact that they didn’t have the professional platform to showcase designer labels on. And also the talented models, they have no way to learn how the professionals learn the runway, how to grow confidence and the skills so I gave the opportunity in 2017 and just test it out and see how it goes and yeah, it was a nice reception and it has been growing since.”

Noticeably, children have been present at the Seoul Fashion Week so it’s just high time for the focus on children’s fashion and the children themselves. With Natalie and Saemi’s passion, Seoul is going to be the next big destination. Korean designers and models should be watching out for an even bigger event on the next SKFS!

This year’s proceeds are donated to the Korean Unwed Mothers Families Association (KUMFA).