By Park Si-soo

French luxury fashion house Chanel will stage its first fashion show in Korea in May.

Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion, said in an interview that the show will be held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), a multifunctional exhibition hall in eastern Seoul, on May 4.

The DDP has hosted a variety of fashion-related events, including Seoul Fashion Week, the biggest fashion event in the country, in October.

Seoul is one of the three cities, along with New York and Rome, in which Chanel has decided to show off its collections this year.

“It’s meaningful in that Chanel has recognized Korea as an important market,” a fashion industry insider said. “Chanel seems to have made the decision after taking into account Korea’s still big growth potential and its influence on the massive Chinese market.”

She said Korea has emerged in recent years as a trendsetter in China’s fashion industry, which was largely attributable to the popularity of Korean musicians and entertainers there.

Chanel has shown stable sales growth in Korea, thanks largely to deep-pocketed Chinese visitors who are greeted by luxury brands for their lavish spending habits at duty free shops and department stores.