Giorgio Armani is the latest designer brand to change its schedule because of coronavirus.
Armani announced today that it is postponing its cruise 2021 show in Dubai, which was slated to coincide with the reopening of its boutique in the Dubai Mall. Both events had been scheduled for April 19 and 20 and the store opening will now be held in November. It will be too late to show the cruise collection then, but Armani plans to hold a runway event of some kind, the brand said.
This is the second event Armani has been forced to alter due to the outbreak. Last month, the label decided to hold its fall ’20 show at Milan Fashion Week behind closed doors, after news broke of a spike in coronavirus cases in Italy.
It’s not just Armani that’s changed plans: The fashion calendar has been in flux amid the evolving coronavirus situation. This week, Ralph Lauren announced that it had canceled its fall ’20 runway event in New York, which was scheduled for late April, as a precautionary measure. Gucci also decided this week that it would not hold its cruise 2021 show, which had been scheduled for May in San Francisco. And fashion weeks scheduled across Asia, in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, have either been canceled or postponed because of the virus. Additionally, some showrooms have shuttered early in Europe — despite buying appointments typically extending into mid-March — due to business travel restrictions companies have placed on their employees.
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As of Thursday morning ET, the coronavirus has infected more than 96,000 people globally and resulted in over 3,300 fatalities. Although most of the cases have been confined to mainland China, Italy has been among the countries hardest, along with South Korea and Iran.
