Coronavirus: Max Mara cancels Saint Petersburg cruise catwalk show

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 11, 2020

Max Mara has called off its planned cruise catwalk show, scheduled for May 25 in Saint Petersburg, in the latest cancellation of a resort runway show by a major fashion house.

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The fashion house, based in Reggio Emilia, acted after Italy went into lockdown on the whole peninsula on Monday, as the country fights to gain control of the coronavirus pandemic. Max Mara took the decision as a logical precautionary move, the house stressed.

Max Mara joins a list of major Italian fashion marques that have called off cruise shows scheduled for this spring: Gucci and Versace in the United States; Prada in Japan and Giorgio Armani in Dubai.

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That said, major French houses have for the moment maintained plans to stage cruise shows: Christian Dior in Lecce; and Chanel on the island of Capri. Alberta Ferretti is also still scheduled to stage a resort show in Rimini on May 22.

For the past several years, the top 10 fashion brands have staged major cruise runway shows in exotic locations, designed to capture major mainstream and social media coverage whilst burnishing each house’s creative reputation. Last year, Max Mara made its entry within said top 10 group with a critically acclaimed show in Berlin in May.

Italy is the country that was the worst hit by coronavirus after China, and the Italian government has accused the European Union and several other member countries of lacking solidarity in bringing aid for the pandemic.

Both Germany and France have imposed limits on the exports of protective medical equipment. China, however, has reportedly offered to sell to Italy 1,000 lung ventilators; two million face masks; 20,000 protective suits; and 50,000 swabs for coronavirus.