Seoul to host inaugural 'Beautiful Life in Seoul' festival Aug. 22-25

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will hold its inaugural "Beautiful Life in Seoul" (BLS) festival at and around Dongdaemun Design Plaza from Aug. 22 to 25, the city announced Wednesday. Advance registration opens Thursday.

BLS is a festival bringing together beauty, fashion and design as a single tourism offering, with 14 programs running across 12 venues in and around DDP. The event combines hands-on experience programs for residents and tourists with business consultation programs for companies and overseas buyers.

A Seoul Metropolitan Government official said the event was conceived in response to a shift in how foreign tourists engage with the city. "We noticed that foreign tourism has been moving away from simply visiting landmarks toward experiencing the everyday life of Seoul residents — through K-beauty, cafes and local commercial districts," the official said. "This will be a new lifestyle festival that raises Seoul's competitiveness as a destination by offering immersive tourism content where residents and visitors can directly experience and enjoy daily life in Seoul."

The centerpiece event, "Seoul Beauty Week," will showcase the latest products and services in K-beauty, medical care and wellness. Alongside it, the festival offers programs organized around five themes: styling yourself in Seoul, moving through Seoul, resting in Seoul, discovering your tastes in Seoul, and enjoying Seoul into the night.

Events open for advance registration include the Seoul Beauty Week exhibition, the Seoul Beauty Forum, a special athleisure lecture, DDP London Fit, Healing in DDP, and a book talk at the DDP Design Book Fair.

Schedules, participation details and available spots for each program can be checked and reserved on the festival's official website starting Thursday. The outdoor hip-hop performance "Summer Seoul-Con," a fashion and food market, and the DDP Book Fair exhibition are open to the public without advance registration.

Cho Hye-jeong, the Seoul Metropolitan Government's director of creative industry planning, said she hopes BLS will give residents and domestic and international tourists a chance to experience Seoul's distinctive beauty, fashion, wellness, culture and leisure firsthand — "spending a special day that is only possible in Seoul."