By Noh Hyun-gi

Seoul Fashion Week found new organizers and a new venue for the 2012 fall/winter collections to be shown on April 2.

Fashion consulting brand IMG and venture group People Works will direct the six-day event at the outdoor Peace Square at Olympic Park in Jamsil, Seoul. Previously, the Seoul Fashion Center, a subsidiary of Seoul Business Agency (SBA) which belongs to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, had overseen the biannual event at Seoul Trade Exhibition Center in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul. The city government shut the center in January after SBA executives were charged with embezzlement and sexual harassment.

There will be three runways in tents set up at the square for the Seoul Collection, Generation Next and Fashion Take-Off.

The Seoul Collection, which will showcase established local designers such as Lie Sang-Bong (Lie Sang Bong Paris) and Choi Bum-suk (General Idea), will kick off with menswear collections. This year, 36 brands will flaunt their creations at Tent 1 and Tent 2 from April 2 through 7.

Fashion Take-Off is a business-oriented opportunity for designers eyeing slots at the Seoul Collection to meet with buyers and other industry professionals and are not open for public. The shows will take place at Tent 2 from April 3 to 6.

At Tent 3, 12 Generation Next designers, for local artist with one to five years experience, will present their collections from April 2 to 5.

Alongside the catwalks will be the Seoul Fashion Fair, where marketing and sales officials from over 53 brands will tend booths introducing their products at Tent 4 from April 2 to 5. Donation Runway will be held on April 6. For the charity bazaar, designers and cosmetics brands will donate garments and beauty products.

The proceeds will go to Save the Children, a global NGO dedicated to underprivileged youths.

The list of invited foreign buyers includes Jay Bell, vice president of Barneys New York; Sam Kershaw from British department store Harvey Nichols; and Carol Hanna Song and Jesse Hudnutt of New York-based Opening Ceremony.