The second annual Conde Nast International Luxury Conference will kick off in South Korea on Wednesday, bringing together hundreds of officials from the world’s major luxury and high-end fashion industries to examine the present and future of the Korean and global luxury market.

The two-day conference, organized by Conde Nast International, a U.S. multimedia company which publishes major fashion and lifestyle magazines like Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair, will take place at the Hotel Shilla in Seoul. 

Some 500 fashion leaders from 30 countries will attend the event, including Bernard Arnault, chairman of global luxury brand LVMH, and the chiefs of Korea’s largest fashion enterprises such as Sungjoo Group and Samsung C&T’s Fashion Division.

Hosted by International Vogue editor Suzy Menkes, this year’s symposium is taking place for the first time in Asia, after the first edition was held in Florence, Italy last year. 

“Korea is the happening, vibrant place of the moment,” Menkes told local reporters during a press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday. “Here, people have reached out in thinking of different ways of luxury and what it represents, making it a very interesting place to hold a conference.”

The conference will begin with a discussion of social media’s influence on fashion, led by Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, followed by an overview of Korea’s duty-free market by Aimee Kim, the Asia leader of apparel, fashion and luxury practice at McKinsey & Company.

Samsung C&T president and CEO Lee Seo-hyun is scheduled to share her insights on the development of Korean fashion and her firm’s role in nurturing and supporting young, promising local designers.

Wired Consulting director Sophie Hackford will discuss the future of luxury while creative directors and designers from Coach, Hugo Boss, Versace, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Diesel and Swarovski, among others, will discuss their roles and ongoing issues at their respective brands.

Further sessions will be dedicated to the luxury, fashion and beauty industries of Korea and Asia. Among other speakers, Sungjoo Group founder and chairman Kim Sung-joo will lead a joint session on the power of Korean pop culture.

For further information about the conference, visit www.cniluxury.com.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)