As the Paris collections continue, the first case of coronavirus linked to Milan Fashion Week has been confirmed in Greece.
According to Reuters, the situation involves an unidentified 38-year-old Greek woman who returned home from Milan on Feb. 23. “She is in good health and is being monitored by a team of exceptional colleagues in Thessaloniki [Greece],” a Greek health ministry representative said at a news briefing, according to Reuters.
The Guardian in the UK said the Greek woman is a “well-known designer” who had traveled to Milan Fashion Week. She admitted herself to the hospital in Greece after “beginning to feel unwell” on Tuesday, the report said.
It is unclear when or where the woman contracted the illness, but Italy has been the country most impacted in Europe, with about 370 cases and 12 deaths so far.
Watch on FN
The newspaper said the designer had also run for public office, and that she reportedly traveled to Milan with a group. The report noted that 15 people — including members of her family — have now been quarantined for two weeks. It is not known how many people the woman has been in contact with.
The coronavirus outbreak first hit the city of Milan over the weekend as fashion week there neared its end. Most of Italy’s cases are in northern towns about an hour away from Italy’s financial capital.
A handful of events, including the Giorgio Armani show, were impacted, and the designer held the event behind closed doors on Sunday as a precaution. Major buying and production appointments that were due to take place this week in Milan have been canceled or rescheduled as a number of major department store buyers canceled their trips.
Many editors, executives and designers flew straight from Milan to Paris on Sunday to attend fashion week there, though a number of key players, including Instagram’s Eva Chen, have canceled their trips to the City of Light. Chen revealed that she was not flying from New York to Paris on Instagram stories, but she did not say why.
Christian Louboutin opened Paris Fashion Week on Monday with a bash to celebrate his new retrospective exhibit, and major shows like Dior and Saint Laurent have taken place in the last few days.
But tonight, LVMH canceled a cocktail party planned for tomorrow night that was to fete its designer prize semifinalists. It did not give a reason why, but the move came after France recorded its first coronavirus death today. Six Chinese designers had previously canceled their Paris shows.
