Night at Korean royal palace brims with stars and Gucci fashion

Seoul has again grabbed the attention of global fashionistas as Italian fashion house Gucci on Tuesday night finally staged its belated Korean fashion show at Seoul's most iconic ancient palace less than a month after its rival Louis Vuitton’s flamboyant fashion show on a modern bridge over the Han River.  

Decorated with thousands of lights and filled with hundreds of celebrities, influencers and figures from big business, South Korea’s Gyeongbokgung Palace was transformed into a glamourous catwalk runway for models dressed in Gucci's ‘90s-inspired clothes accentuated with colors popular in the 2010s.

Gucci’s Cruise 2024 collection show featured designs influenced by Seoul’s unique fashion style and infused with Korean traditional costume motifs, according to Gucci.

It was the Italian luxury brand’s first cruise collection show in Asia, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of its inroads into Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Gucci originally planned to stage its fashion show at the palace last November but canceled it following the tragic Halloween crowd crush in Seoul that killed more than 150 people in October.

It was also the first such event to be held for a single foreign brand at the 14th-century royal palace, the pride of Korea’s national heritage in the heart of Seoul.

To get approval for the show at the historic site, Gucci has pledged a three-year donation to restore and preserve Gyeongbokgung Palace, a royal home during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), with Korea’s Cultural Heritage Administration.

Gucci’s global Chairman and Chief Executive Marco Bizzarri joined some 500 spectators at the royal palace show, which was livestreamed via Gucci’s official YouTube channel and Korean portal giant Naver and watched by about 700,000 people worldwide.

SEOUL AS A KEY LUXURY FASHION MARKET

The Gucci show was held less than a month after its rival Louis Vuitton showcased its pre-fall 2023 women’s collection on the Jamsugyo Bridge over the Han River in Seoul in late April. It was the French haute couture’s first pre-fall show in a global premier destination. 

Such international fashion giants’ rush to the South Korean capital city comes as the Asian country has emerged as a key global luxury market thanks to Koreans’ lavish spending on luxury items by not only affluent consumers in their 40s and 50s but also young people in their 20s and 30s.

Global top three high fashion houses Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Chanel, each reported a double-digit growth in sales in Korea last year, with their combined sales nearing 4 trillion won ($3 billion).

Koreans’ favorite, Louis Vuitton, saw its sales for 2022 in Korea up 15.3% on-year to 1.7 trillion won and operating profit jump 38.4% to 417.7 billion won. Its bottom line surged 68.9% to 380 billion won.

Chanel earned more than 1.5 trillion won in Korea last year, trailing its French rival. Its operating profit also zoomed more than 60% over the same period.

Hermes Korea also reported a over 20% gain in both sales and operating income.

Korea is the world’s seventh-largest luxury market, which grew 4.4% on-year to $14.22 billion in 2022.

Koreans’ per-capita spending on luxury items is the world’s biggest, reaching $325 versus US’s $280 and China’s $55, according to multinational investment bank Morgan Stanley.  

GLOBAL K-CULTURE BOOM A DRAW

The growing global influence of Korean pop culture is another draw luring global upmarket fashion houses to Korea.  

Gucci has recruited Korean singer-songwriter and actress Lee Ji-eun, or IU, actress Shin Min-a, Hanni from girl group NewJeans and Kai from boy group EXO as its global ambassadors.

Notably, all the members of NewJeans represent international high-end fashion houses, including Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, YSL Beauty, Chanel and Dior, in less than a year since the girl group’s launch.

Global haute couture brands bet big on Korean celebrities because their influence on fashion is growing not only at home but also in other countries such as China and in Southeast Asia, which could replace slowing luxury demand in the US and Europe this year.

Write to Kyeong-je Han at hankyung@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.