Elton Ilirjani, an Albanian supermodel whose stage name is HANKO, has walked global fashion weeks, from Milan to New York and beyond.
The best runways in the world, he says, are in Asia.
This coming spring 2025, Elton plans to walk designers at various fashion weeks in Asia, including Seoul, Tokyo, and Shanghai and notes the creative and well-produced nature of Asian fashion events compared to those in Europe and the US, which are often marred by scammers and poor production standards.
Elton emphasizes the importance of proper runway conditions and the need for models to understand the outfits they wear and the context of the show. In his expertise, Elton also mentions the innovative use of technology in Asian fashion, such as smart clothes with screens, and expresses a strong confidence in Asia's leadership in the fashion industry.
In South Korea, Elton will walk for five shows as part of Seoul Fashion Week, including Greedelious, one of the top designers in the country, as well as MMAM, Maison Nica and Ouser, an up-and-coming designer. "Ouser is so talented; his work is very simple, but very extravagant and powerful," said Elton.
"Ouser, like many Asian fashion designers, have their models wear no makeup on the runway, only a 'glow face' with a facial. He's such a tremendous change in the fashion industry in Korea, and I'm really happy to be part of that."
In Tokyo, Elton will walk for four runway shows at Rakuten Fashion Week, including American and Japanese designers. The details are still under wraps.
In March and April, Elton will walk for designers at Shanghai Fashion Week. "It's a new thing for me; I've never been to China," he said. "I heard that Shanghai Fashion Week is one of the best for fashion in the world, with the biggest designers, with the best production, and much money invested from the government. It's a government managed production, and the productions are spectacular."
What Elton loves most about Asia and fashion is creativity in the arts and fashion. "They are very creative, number one," he said. "The designers bring creativity to another level. Then there is also the production, which is very important."
Elton expresses the main problem with fashion shows in the western world. "Now, all the fashion weeks in Europe and the United States are facing difficulties due to production, so many scammers are in the fashion world, and we have to speak about it very loudly."
He speaks about scam artists who claim to be fashion producers, promising results but are not professionals. "Many designers and models pay money to these scammers and fake producers to be on the runway, especially the up and upcoming ones, and they are facing a very bad reality in Europe because it isn't controlled."
Meanwhile in Asia, the fashion weeks are controlled by authorities, and bring a high quality of production with expert AV and lighting. "Now, designers in Europe are doing runways in parks with no lights," he said.
Elton started out as a model first for Seoul Fashion Week before he walked New York Fashion Week. "I'm a baby of Seoul Fashion Week, so I'm a Korean product," he said.
It all started in 2021 on Instagram when a designer from Korea wrote to him, Jay
Jae Hyuk Lim, co-founder of BESFXXK, saying he liked Elton's style and wanted him to model for the brand.
"He's one of the best designers now in Korea, not only he's bringing his clothes and his creativity in Japan, in China, in Europe, in the United States, in New York," said Elton.
Other designers in Seoul caught on and started booking Elton to walk their runway shows, which is why he keeps returning to Asia for runway shows.
"When you walk a runway show in Asia, it gives the utmost importance to the look, to the outfit, not to their sexiness and to a model's body or beauty," he said. "It's more about the respect for high fashion."
