Seoul Fashion Week canceled as Coronovirus cases rises. The news was announced after the number of cases in the country neared 1,000.
Seoul Fashion Week is the latest fashion event to take a hit from the rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as anxieties mount in Milan and Paris.
South Korea’s top fashion event, scheduled to run March 17-21, has been called off after a series of cancellations from both international and domestic designers surrounding the event, the official news followed:
“We have internally decided to cancel the 2020 fall-winter Seoul Fashion Week,” said one Seoul Metropolitan Government official, as reported in The Korea Herald, adding that the SS2021 Seoul Fashion Week would still be held in October as planned. “We will seek ways to support and help designers in Korea by hosting other international design fairs instead.”
The country has reported the largest number of confirmed cases after mainland China and is approaching 1,000 infections; 144 new cases were reported on February 25 and eight deaths have resulted from the virus as of February 25.
South Korea is facing “a grave turning point” in its virus-fighting efforts, President Moon Jae-in told reporters after a meeting with ministers and experts over the weekend. According to the Bank of Korea, the country’s Composite Consumer Sentiment Index (CCSI) dropped 7.3 points in February — the largest decline since 2015, when South Korea was hit by Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
According to The Korea Herald, around 165 buyers were invited to the previous season of Seoul Fashion Week, consisting of 135 Asian buyers and 30 buyers from the US and Europe. Thirty-six labels were slated to showcase their new collections on the runway next month, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Both Shanghai Fashion Week and Beijing’s China Fashion Week, originally scheduled for March 26 and 25 respectively, have been postponed. Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo, slated to kick off on March 16, has yet to make an announcement.