The nation’s 12-year-old fashion week is being reenergized this season with a new organizer and venue, and a lineup of designers that includes several new names.

Co-hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government and global fashion consulting company IMG, Seoul Fashion Week will showcase 2012 FW collections at Olympic Park’s World Peace Plaza in Bangi-dong, southeastern Seoul, in the first week of April.

The event will be held in four tents set up at the park, with a tent each dedicated to Seoul Collection, Fashion Take-off, Generation Next and Seoul Fashion Fair. 

“Just as how the free and lively ambience of Manhattan’s Bryant Park comes to mind at the mention of New York Fashion Week, we plan to make Seoul Fashion Week a fashion festival without barriers in which all citizens can participate,” said the organizers in a statement.

Organizers said that this year’s SFW will be different as there will be less city government influence. Seoul Fashion Center, an affiliate of Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Seoul Business Agency, which had run 17 of Seoul City’s fashion-related projects including SFW, was shut down earlier this year as it was discovered to have been a hotbed of corruption.

This time, the tentatively-named Korea Fashion Designer Association led by designer Lie Sang-bong was in charge of everything from choosing the venue to the details of the event. Overall, a total of 36 established designers will showcase their latest works at Seoul Collection; 19 designers will participate in Fashion Take-off, hoping for business matches; and 12 up-and-coming designers will introduce their collections at Generation Next.

The participation of the Seoul Fashion Artists Association designers, who have held their own shows for several years now, is a big change this year. The veteran designers of SFAA such as Shin Jang-kyoung and Kim Dong-soon will showcase their collections on the final day of Seoul Fashion Week.

Donation Runway, a new event which started last season, will be held this time as well. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon will strut down the runway as a model along with kids and teenagers, and give a helping hand at the charity sale during the fashion event. All profits raised through the sale will be donated to Save the Children.

Sara Maino, editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue; Jay Bell, vice president of U.S. department store Barneys New York; and Sam Kershaw, vice president of U.K.’s leading department store Harvey Nichols, are expected to attend Seoul Fashion Week.

Seoul Fashion Week will run from April 2 to 7 at Olympic Park’s World Peace Plaza in Bangi-dong, southeastern Seoul. For more information, visit www.seoulfashionweek.org.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)