Two models pose during the Philipp Plein fashion show, part of Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2020-2021 last February.
Photographer: Pietro D'Aprano/Getty Images EuropeWorld Fashion Capitals Get a $600 Million Haircut Thanks to Covid
The pandemic has choked the flow of spending during now-virtual fashion weeks in New York, Paris, Milan and London.
Each year over four weeks in February and March, thousands of fashion executives, celebrities, influencers and models hopscotch between the world’s style capitals to attend runway shows. Attached to them is a multimillion-dollar economy that pumps both investment and tourist spending into New York, London, Paris and Milan.
For the second season in a row, all of that has been erased by the pandemic. Almost all shows will be virtual, as they were last September. The luxury hotels normally packed with fashion’s finest will be near empty, local clubs and venues won’t be welcoming many for nightly parties, museum and art exhibitions will be ghost towns and high-end boutiques will miss out on the cash that flows from a flood of shoppers willing to shell out thousands for a dress or handbag.