When you run out of new locations to show at, you return to the very old. Cue Gucci and its Cruise 2024 collection — in a first for the 628-year-old heritage establishment, Gucci’s last collection by its in-House designers (before the arrival of Sabato De Sarno) showed in the courtyard of the iconic Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. With this transitional season still in tow, the Italian House’s reprised focus on archival silhouettes stood out as the perfect opportunity for Gucci to immerse itself in the sense and sensibilities of Hallyu and its roots — what is arguably fashion, luxury and global culture’s leading source of influence, at present.

There’s almost no need to prove the importance of the Korean market in this industry when Gucci’s debut runway in Seoul was only months behind Dior and Louis Vuitton’s own first shows. In fact, Gucci would have been the second on this list had previous creative director Alessandro Michele’s Cosmogenie Collection showed in Seoul last October. The history between the brand and country started in 1998, when the House opened its first flagship in the country almost exactly 25 years ago from this show. But it wasn’t until they appointed EXO member Kai as the House’s first Korean global brand ambassador in 2019 that Gucci grew its contemporary presence, becoming the host of fashion’s biggest cohort of Korean ambassadors and VIPs — rising as one of the few luxury brands to court, succeed and rise with the tides of Hallyu.

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Showing in the de facto tourist destination of South Korea’s capital is thus more symbolic than an amplification of brand presence. The Gyeongbokgung Palace was the birthplace of hangul (the Korean alphabet), the centre of the nation’s early developments in the arts and sciences, and the place foreign diplomats and VIPs were hosted during the Joseon dynasty. Gucci showing its Cruise 2024 collection to fashion’s foreign dignitaries in this historically significant venue is in itself an embrace of the bold, mix-and-match spirit of the Korean fashion landscape that the design of the Cruise 2024 collection was informed with. This is perhaps why a serendipitous synchrony in dress and design is extra apparent this season, which lays proof the youthful, experimental and shapeshifting nature Gucci has come to hone in recent months.