Asia now runs on a two-track fashion calendar: high-gloss city showcases that set taste globally, and fast-growing B2B weeks that grease the supply chain. For a French audience planning coverage or buyer trips, this guide maps the ten most followed Asian fashion weeks in 2025, with practical dates, what each city does best, and which labels merit a front-row look. We also add a short, mid-article toolkit on how to add text to a picture so your runway posts survive screenshots and platform compression — crucial when you’re filing from the pit at 23:00.
From Tokyo’s tightly curated schedules to Dubai’s glossy industry platform and Jakarta’s rising regional voice, the numbers justify attention. Japan, Korea and China routinely record over 100 rainy days a year, which partly explains why many Asian venues favour connected malls and underground concourses — a gift for logistics when you’re sprinting between shows. More important for our purposes, these fashion weeks have tightened their media ops since 2023, with clearer accreditation, faster look-book drops, and more simultaneous livestreams.
1) Seoul Fashion Week — K-fashion’s global shop window
Why it matters: A 25-year milestone in 2025, SFW splits its energy between polished state-backed staging at DDP and a thriving off-schedule of indie labels and university shows. Expect sharp tailoring, tech-leaning fabrics and a streetwear pulse that still converts globally.
Dates & anchors: Autumn/Winter 2025/26 editions ran at Dongdaemun Design Plaza; the city flagged celebratory programming 1–7 September 2025 and a February F/W showcase.
Brands to watch: Look for rising Seoul labels that mix structured outerwear with playful colour; SFW also remains a scouting ground for accessories that scale on e-commerce.
2) Tokyo / Rakuten Fashion Week — craft, concept, credibility
Why it matters: Tokyo’s week is compact and connoisseur-friendly: fewer headline spectacles than Paris, but fierce consistency in pattern-cutting and knit engineering. The AW25 season ran 17–22 March 2025, with 30-plus physical shows and a push to attract more international buyers.
Dates & venues: Spiral Hall (Omotesandō), Toda Hall (Kyōbashi) and satellite spaces — easy to navigate, punctual, media-ready.
Brands to watch: Names singled out in trade press included Tamme, Chika Kisada, Harunobu Murata, and new knit specialists — a good read-across for boutiques wanting “quiet boldness”.
3) Shanghai Fashion Week — mega-market energy
Why it matters: China’s most internationalised week, split between Xintiandi’s open-air shows and trade-heavy showrooms. Strong street-to-luxury spectrum, deep domestic press.
Dates: The SS26 edition opened 9 October 2025 at Taipinghu Park, Xintiandi — a useful compass for 2026 planning windows.
Brands to watch: Contemporary womenswear and designer down/outdoor hybrids that travel well; SFW is also where many Western buyers now source polished mid-market labels.
4) Shenzhen Original Design Fashion Week — where fashion meets the supply chain
Why it matters: Shenzhen leans B2B and product-development; think runway plus sourcing on one campus. The Original Design Fashion Week runs alongside the clothing-supply-chain expo, with 30+ shows and 80+ activities over three days. SS/AW calendars bookend spring and late autumn.
Dates: 31 March–2 April 2025 (Futian Convention Centre); autumn editions typically in November.
Brands to watch: Chinese indie designers with strong fabrication; ideal for retailers who want private-label inspiration tied to real factories.
5) Hong Kong Fashion Week / Fashion InStyle — trade reinvented
Why it matters: HKTDC has reframed the city’s legacy week as Fashion InStyle, clustering seven lifestyle events and adding public-facing parades (NEXT@Fashion InStyle) to spark consumer buzz.
Dates: 27–30 April 2025, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre; attendance in the mid-five figures remains realistic for a trade-first event.
Brands to watch: Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area labels with export-ready denim, knit and accessories; buyers often use HK as a neutral meet-point for China + ASEAN suppliers.
6) Taipei Fashion Week — narrative staging, local talent
Why it matters: Government-backed, media-savvy, and increasingly cinematic in how it stages collections. The 2025 theme (“Fashion Romantasy”) showcased six Taiwanese brands in a cross-disciplinary show at Taipei Music Center — an efficient sampler for buyers.
Dates: Late October windows; SS26 is 16–20 October 2025, with city-wide programming.
Brands to watch: JUST IN XX, PCES, Claudia .W, CHIA, UUIN, TANGTSUNGCHIEN — distinct enough for multi-brand edits.
7) Jakarta Fashion Week — the archipelago’s voice
Why it matters: A confident platform for Indonesia and its neighbours, with modestwear, craft and youthful RTW in dialogue. Schedules blend national houses with fresh collectives.
Dates: 27 Oct–2 Nov 2025 (main stage at City Hall; daily line-ups public).
Brands to watch: BINHouse for textiles, Fashionlink capsules for multi-brand scouting.
8) Bangkok International Fashion Week — retail-powered glamour
Why it matters: With Siam Paragon behind it, BIFW is set up for retail conversion (see-now, shop-now capsules, pop-ups across the mall). Good for South-East Asian sensibility with international polish.
Dates: October 2025 runway week on the Parc Paragon grand stage (specific days by stage).
Brands to watch: Thai maisons and couture-adjacent labels that excel in evening pieces; mall partnerships make post-show retail features easy.
9) Dubai Fashion Week — Middle East hub, Asian calendar anchor
Why it matters: Although West Asia sits at the calendar’s edge, DFW has become a credible opener for AW seasons, attracting regional couture and global capsules.
Dates: 1–6 February 2025 at d3; applications open for SS/26 (Sept) and AW26/27 (Feb 2026), which tells you where buying windows will land.
Brands to watch: Regional couture powerhouses plus emerging designers translating abaya codes into global RTW.
10) Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI (Mumbai/Delhi) — India’s bellwether
Why it matters: India’s most-watched runway week, with a strong hand in bridal-to-evening and a rising cohort of tech-textile innovators. LFW x FDCI is also a reliable celebrity moment that spikes social reach.
Dates: October 2025 season confirmed by the Fashion Design Council of India; media coverage in 2025 highlighted sculptural eveningwear and high-glam finales.
Brands to watch: Pankaj & Nidhi for future-facing craft; scan schedules for designers crossing into Paris couture and prêt.
Mid-article toolkit — how to add text to a picture so your runway posts travel
A surprising share of fashion-week content is seen as screenshots: a Story saved to camera roll, a Reel paused mid-scroll, a carousel forwarded by WhatsApp. That is why how to add text to a picture cleanly is a newsroom skill, not a side hobby. Keep it spare and legible.
- Use a two-line lower-third (designer / venue & date) in high contrast; test at 1080×1920 and 1080×1350.
- Add an alt-text note that mirrors the overlay; this helps SEO and accessibility.
- When you cut a four-tile grid, include one tile that’s pure typography (designer, city, season) — it survives aggressive compression better than a busy backstage shot.
- A lightweight template in Adobe Express lets interns and editors share the same look in seconds; define type scale, safe zones and export sizes once.
If you train the team in how to add text to a picture before the shows, you’ll file faster and reduce captioning errors. And when brands ask for quick approval, a consistent overlay reassures them the copy is accurate. In short: how to add text to a picture is part of fashion operations now, not just social flair.
Data and dynamics — the macro picture behind the runways
- Tokyo kept a six-day core for AW25 with 30+ physical shows, confirming that the city prefers compact depth over sprawling volume.
- Shanghai continues to split attention between glamorous Xintiandi openers and showroom sales — the Oct 2025opener is a good proxy for SS26 timing.
- Seoul marked 25 years with an expanded city-wide programme, consolidating DDP as the visual anchor.
- Shenzhen fuses catwalk and sourcing: spring 2025 promised 40,000 m², 30+ shows, 80+ activities alongside the supply-chain fair — a pragmatic draw for retailers balancing inspiration with deliveries.
- Hong Kong’s rebrand to Fashion InStyle aligns with a seven-event late-April cluster; useful for multi-category buyers.
- Dubai’s early-February slot positions it just ahead of New York, giving Asian and Middle-East labels first-mover headlines.
- Jakarta published a transparent, daily schedule — a sign of growing maturity and a boon for international desks.
- Taipei’s city partnership (Ministry of Culture, City Government) creates high-production “set pieces” that are friendly to film and social cuts.
Which brands to follow — a concise watch-list
- Tokyo: knit innovators and tailoring purists — Tamme, Chika Kisada, Harunobu Murata — plus award-track newcomers spotlighted by the Tokyo Fashion Award.
- Seoul: hybrid street-lux labels with high fabrication values; jewellery and eyewear independents often steal the buy.
- Shanghai: contemporary womenswear with statement outerwear; playful down designers that work for European winters.
- Taipei: the 2025 cohort (JUST IN XX, PCES, Claudia .W, CHIA, UUIN, TANGTSUNGCHIEN) is export-ready in capsule depth.
- Jakarta: BINHouse (textiles) and Fashionlink collectives for edit-friendly multi-brand curation.
- Lakmé x FDCI: Pankaj & Nidhi and peers for sculptural eveningwear that photographs well on red carpet and bridal.
Practical playbook for editors and buyers
- Map the corridors: plan Seoul (Sept/Feb), Tokyo (Mar/Oct windows), Shanghai (Oct/Mar-Apr), Taipei (Oct), Dubai (Feb/Sept), Mumbai/Delhi (Mar/Oct), Jakarta (late Oct/early Nov), Bangkok (Oct), Shenzhen (Apr/Nov), Hong Kong (late Apr). Use the dates above to avoid clashes and anchor shoots.
- Prioritise venues with cover: DDP (Seoul), Spiral/Toda (Tokyo), Xintiandi pavilions (Shanghai), HKCEC (Hong Kong), d3 (Dubai) are built for rapid turnarounds between shows.
- Balance inspiration and PO: pair a concept-heavy week (Tokyo/Taipei) with a sourcing-friendly stop (Shenzhen/Hong Kong) in the same trip.
- Social packaging: lock a template for overlays and carousels (see how to add text to a picture section) so interns can publish while seniors file reviews.
Key points to remember
- Asia’s calendar is now indispensable. The combination of strong city showcases (Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai) and commercially focused platforms (Shenzhen, Hong Kong) means European buyers and editors can do serious work in two to three weeks of travel.
- Dates skew earlier than you think. Dubai in early February sets the tone ahead of the Western majors; late-October clusters (Taipei, Jakarta, Bangkok) are prime for holiday merchandising.
- Talent is local, reach is global. Tokyo and Taipei continue to cultivate designers whose work translates to European boutiques; Seoul’s production quality keeps street-lux credible beyond trend cycles.
- Presentation matters as much as product. A consistent system for how to add text to a picture will save you hours in approvals and ensure label/venue credits stay attached when posts are reshared — build it once, use it everywhere.
If you only change one thing about your 2025–26 Asia plan, make it this: fix your content pipeline before you fly. Confirm dates from the official pages linked above, pre-build your overlay template for how to add text to a picture, and decide which two cities will give you both craft and commercial traction. Do that, and the season will feel less like a scramble — and more like the editorial campaign you meant to run.
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