Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani has staged its women's Autumn/Winter 2020 show in Milan without an audience for public health reasons as the coronavirus outbreak hit Italy.
Giorgio Armani released a statement early on Sunday 23 February telling guests not to attend the show and instead announcing that it would be live-streamed on its website and Instagram and Facebook pages.
The statement said the decision was made in order to "support national efforts in safeguarding public health", and to protect the invited guests by stopping them attending "crowded spaces".
The decision was made amid rising concern over the coronavirus outbreak in Milan. The Salone del Mobile furniture fair, which is due to be held in April, is "consulting with stakeholders and the government" over its response to the outbreak.
The Giorgio Armani show was held inside an empty showroom on 23 February at 4:00pm CET, at the close of this year's Milan Fashion Week, which began on 18 February.
The show saw models walk around a raised rectangular runway surrounding a central display that used blue, moving lights to emulate ripples in a pool of water, populated with structures made to look like plants and petal-like forms suspended from the ceiling.
Giorgio Armani reinterpreted the grand costumes of literary heroes with a feminine focus for the show, incorporating epaulettes, small jackets with high buttoning and knickerbockers tucked into boots.

While the colour black perm...