Beauty with a Purpose

Julia Morley with designer Andre Kim

Last night's stunning André Kim charity fashion show blew away the 250 invited VIP guests and international media at the Hyatt Regency, Incheon. All proceeds from the show went to International Vaccine Institute (IVI), a United Nations research centre based in Seoul, and the money raised will go towards projects helping underprivileged children in North Korea.

"We think (the) Mr World competition will really help us raise public awareness,'' Michael Goon, IVI's deputy director general for administration of finance said. "Our mission is to combat infectious diseases through innovative vaccine design and introduction." With Korea's advanced biotechnology facilities, IVI works to combat pneumonia, meningitis, dengue fever and similar afflictions that claim 4 million lives every year, many of which are children living in impoverished countries around the world.

Julia Morley and Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo opened the event with speeches before spectacular lights and booming music started the show with a bang. The first group walked out, led by Brazil, in futuristic tracksuits, in a 2018 Winter Olympics theme, for which Korea's city of PyeongChang is a bidder. The second group featured designs inspired by the forthcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The third stage had a European Royal theme. The next segment was a wedding theme and the models wore grand tailcoats and pure white designs adorned with gold detail. Korean court costumes inspired the fifth and final section of the show. The designs were modern interpretations of court clothing from the Three Kingdoms Period (57-668), Goryeo (918-1392) and Joseon Kingdoms (1392-1910).

"If previous fashion shows highlighted feminine beauty for the delight of men, this event features beautiful masculine styles for women to marvel at," said Kim, Korea's top designer, who has hosted shows in New York, Washington DC, Barcelona, Cairo, Sydney and Beijing, and a goodwill ambassador for IVI.

Brazil	Spain and Panama
The Korean court clothing segment	Winner Brazil is congratulated by runners-up Netherlands and Czech Republic

The Mr World contestants were also being judged as they strutted down the catwalk. Chairman of MWO Julia Morley along with André Kim, the first ever Mr World Tom Nuyens, Miss World 2007 Zhang Zilin, Miss World 2009 Kaiane Aldorino and Miss Korea Kim Joo-ri were sitting at the end of the catwalk on the panel. The finalists were cheered by the crowd as they eagerly anticipated the final results. Third place was Netherlands, our tallest contestant at 202cm, second was Czech Republic and the Top Model winner was Brazil, securing a place in the semi-finals.