The fashion houses of Paris and Milan are back on the runway this week, hosting their elaborate annual wintertime shows despite the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, another sign that parts of Europe are looking beyond the current Covid-19 wave and getting back to business.
Chanel SA sent a horse down the catwalk at its lavish in-person fashion show Tuesday night in Paris, part of Haute Couture Week there. Last week, Louis Vuitton unveiled a posthumous collection by its late artistic director, Virgil Abloh, who died late last year. Kenzo, another brand owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, debuted its first collection by newly appointed creative director Nigo on Sunday.
Milan Women’s Fashion Week is on course to go ahead in late February, with leading brands including Prada SpA and Versace, owned by Capri Holdings Ltd. , among those set to participate with physical shows.
The relatively robust showing at what is one of the most important times of the year for luxury fashion brands represents a turnaround from just a few weeks ago. Other high-profile events, such as the annual late-January business retreat hosted by the World Economic Council in Davos, Switzerland, have been called off because of the fast-spreading variant.
More recently, though, European officials have started to loosen Omicron-inspired travel restrictions. The U.K. and European Union both said earlier this week they plan to drop certain rules requiring quarantines and testing.
The fashion industry’s biggest houses largely canceled in-person shows throughout 2020. Last year, most didn’t hold physical winter shows, which are typically held in January and February in Paris, Milan and New York. Many, though, held shows later in the year, between Covid-19 waves.
The shows are red-letter dates in the industry’s calendar. Held several times a year, they are a time for brands to debut their latest seasonal garments, host big buyers and influencers and, in some cases, capture a wider audience with headlines about over-the-top shows.
Chanel made a particular splashy return to the winter show season in Paris after sending a horse, ridden by celebrity show jumper Charlotte Casiraghi, the daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco, down the catwalk. The longtime brand ambassador was fitted with a Chanel sequined, black tweed riding jacket. Chanel canceled its winter show last year, but held a live event last summer.
Not every house is returning this year. Designer Tom Ford this week canceled his New York Fashion Week show, scheduled for Feb. 16. He said Covid-19 outbreaks within his team had derailed preparations. At the start of the year, Giorgio Armani SpA pulled out of this month’s Milan and Paris fashion weeks, citing Covid-19 concerns. Brunello Cucinelli SpA canceled its show at Pitti Uomo, a fashion event in Florence, earlier this month because of rising Covid-19 cases.
The return of fashion shows in Europe coincides with the industry’s strong recovery from the pandemic. Luxury groups say they are determined to keep up the momentum in 2022 and deliver on bullish growth forecasts.
Global luxury revenues will reach €370 billion, equivalent to $416 billion, in 2025, up from around €283 billion last year, according to Bain & Co., as the sector enjoys what is anticipated to be a strong post-pandemic rebound. Serving affluent customers with an often-times-local supply chain, luxury companies can be relatively insulated from economic threats that are proving challenging for many mass-market brands, notably rising inflation.
While luxury companies are experiencing rising logistical costs, they can cope with them relatively easily, Julie Brown, Burberry Group PLC’s chief financial officer, said on an earnings call last week, since their customers aren’t sensitive to price rises.
“There is considerable inflation occurring on the supply chain. So the impact on freight and logistics is definitely with us,” Ms. Brown said. “I think this is where being in the luxury industry is helpful…because in this industry price increases can occur.”
Write to Trefor Moss at [email protected]
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