Coronavirus: Gucci cancels Cruise 2021 show in San Francisco as outbreak spreads

Luxury fashion brand says decision was made as 'a precautionary measure'

Gucci has cancelled its Cruise 2021 show due to the ongoing coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak.

In a statement, the Italian fashion house confirmed that it will not be going ahead with its next runway show, which was due to take place on 18 May in San Francisco.

A spokesperson for Gucci said the brand’s decision was in light of “the ongoing uncertainty prompted by the coronavirus outbreak” and that is was “a precautionary measure”.

“A decision on the new timing and location of the show will be announced at a later date, once the situation becomes clearer,” the statement continued.

“At this time, our thoughts are with all of those affected around the world.”

According to WWD, the brand’s creative director Alessandro Michele had initially chosen the American city to host the show due to its reputation for being a centre of liberal activism and a cultural melting pot.

The show is the latest in a series of industry events that have been affected by the virus.

Last month, Prada announced that it has decided to postpone its Cruise 2021 show, which was scheduled to take place on 21 May in Tokyo, due to coronavirus fears.

With Cruise season fast-approaching, it remains unclear as to whether more brands will be forced to follow suit.

Giorgio Armani is expected to kick off the event with its Cruise offering in Dubai on 19 April.

However, there are concerns that it may be postponed after the brand decided to cancel its autumn/winter 2020 show during Milan Fashion Week at the last minute amid the coronavirus threat in Italy.

Instead, Armani opted to live stream the runway in an empty theatre across the fashion house’s social media channels.

In a statement, the brand said the decision was made “to safeguard the wellbeing of all his invited guests by not having them attend crowded spaces”.

So far, more than 90,000 people are known to be infected with coronavirus and more than 3,000 deaths have been recorded.

On Tuesday, health secretary Matt Hancock announced that the number of people diagnosed with the virus in the UK had risen to 51 and said that the threat was becoming “increasingly serious”.

Meanwhile, Italy has become one of the worst affected countries worldwide after an outbreak in the northern provinces of Lombardy and Veneto saw its death toll rise to 52 and the number of confirmed cases increase to 1,835.