Shanghai Fashion Week postponed due to Covid-19 resurgence

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 21, 2022

Shanghai Fashion Week has been postponed due to Covid-19, in the latest setback due to the recent resurgence of the virus in China.

 
The next edition of Shanghai Fashion Week, the most important runway season in China, had been scheduled for Friday, March 25 to Friday, April 1.
 
However, last week China saw more than 5,000 new Covid infections for the first time since the early days of the pandemic. Outbreaks of the highly contagious Omicron variant prompted officials to lock down more cities and impose further restrictions. Though a relatively small number compared to many other nations, 5,000 is a significant figure for China, which has kept cases low for the two years of the pandemic through a strict 'Zero-Covid' strategy.

Altogether, more than 45 million people are now under some kind of lockdown in China, according to reports by Western media that operate in China.
 
“It is sad that the pandemic situation is going up across the country and Shanghai is also battling with the outbreak of the virus. We have announced the postponement for the fashion week which was previously set from 25th March to 1st April,” Landon Du, a senior director of the Shanghai season, explained in an email.
 
So far, organizers have not settled on a different date for the season. Historically, Shanghai Fashion Week consists of several dozen live catwalk events, a handful by European brands, though mainly by Chinese designers. There is also an active fashion trade salon that runs concurrently.
 
“We are also considering doing some hybrids for show, but all are pending now. If we have new updates, we will have a new official announcement,” Du added.
 
The week’s action is usually centered around the key luxury area of the Bund, the location of The Langham Xintiandi hotel, one of the season’s sponsors.  Other sponsors include L’Oréal, Mac, Rémy Martin, DeLonghi, Visa, Pepsi and Genesis.