Giorgio Armani’s AW20 womenswear show will be kept behind closed doors today, in an effort to avoid spreading coronavirus among attendees. 

While guests are requested not to attend the show in Milan, it will still take place in front of an empty theatre and go out via livestream.

The decision “to safeguard the wellbeing of all his invited guests” by discouraging them from travelling to crowded places follows “extraordinary measures” taken in Italy yesterday. 

The Italian government has cancelled other events and even quarantined towns in northern regions. Around 50,000 people are effectively on lockdown in their homes, the BBC reports.

Other shows have been affected by outbreaks of the virus, including ASAI’s AW20 London Fashion Week offering and the whole of Shanghai Fashion Week. Those quarantined, meanwhile, are turning to the internet to document their lives.

Armani was also at the centre of a controversy earlier this week, for his use of the word “rape” when discussing how fast-changing trends and sex-driven marketing in the fashion industry affect women. Critics have accused the designer of diminishing sexual violence.