Milan Fashion Week kicked off Tuesday
overshadowed by the coronavirus outbreak, with thousands of Chinese
designers,
buyers and journalists ditching the event.
China accounts for over a third of global luxury consumption and the
crisis
has already cost Italy’s fashion sector millions of euros.
But the show must go on, and for five days, Italy’s biggest fashion names
such as Armani, Fendi, Prada, Versace and Gucci will showcase their
Autumn-Winter 2020 Women’s collections.
Milan fashion week kicked-off with Chinese designer, Han Wen showing
support
to China
The event began Tuesday evening with a “China, We are With You” fashion
show from Chinese designer, Han Wen, who is based in New York.
Amid the 56 shows, 96 presentations and some 40 events planned through
Sunday in the hub of Italian fashion, the three Chinese designers with
fashion
shows scheduled — Angel Chen, Ricostru and Hui — have pulled out.
Italy was the first European country to ban all flights to and from China
last month.
Moreover, the closure of production workshops of Chinese brands in China
made it impossible to meet the production deadlines for the shows.
The virus, which has already killed nearly 1,900 people around the world,
mostly in China, also cast a pall over London’s Fashion Week.
That show, which began on Friday and lasted five days, was also marked by
“significantly reduced” attendance, organisers said.
The National Chamber for Italian Fashion said the economic impact of the
epidemic was “currently not calculable.”
Forecast for coronavirus’ strain on fashion gloomy
Using the 2003-2004 SARS outbreak as a guide, it said an “optimistic”
estimate would be for Italian exports to decline by a minimum of 100 million
euros (108 million US dollars) in the first quarter of 2020 and 230 million
“in the
event of a prolonged crisis” for the first half of the year.
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The Chinese absence will be noticeable not just around the catwalks but
behind the scenes, in showrooms where international buyers come to order
pieces that will end up a few months later in luxury boutiques around the
world.
To make up for the gap, the chamber has launched an assortment of digital
means to connect buyers in China by giving them access to the catwalks in
streaming but also behind the scenes.
Interviews with designers and live shows in the heart of the showrooms
will
also be made available.
Prada adjusts show to accommodate Chinese visitors
Prada has changed the time of its show on Thursday from 6:30pm to 4pm to
better allow the Chinese market to follow the show.
China will also be in the spotlight with the Chinese-Italian Fashion Town
initiative sponsored by the Chinese retail colossus Chic Group, giving eight
emerging Chinese brands the opportunity to present their collections at the
Hub dedicated to buyers.
The designers will be present virtually with video links.
The COVID-19 outbreak — as the World Health Organization has formally
named it — has also hit the sector’s supply chain, with textile
manufacturing
plants shutting down in China, causing significant delays in the delivery of
collections.(AFP)
Photo Fendi SS20, courtesy of Trendstop