SYDNEY — The Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival has cancelled its remaining 2020 program in the wake of Friday’s Australian federal government announcement of a ban on all non-essential public events attended by more than 500 people.
Although the ban is not due to come into effect until March 16, the festival said late Friday that it would cancel all remaining events, including seven runway shows over Friday evening and Saturday, more than half of them ticketed events attended by up to 1,500. The consumer festival, which started on March 4, attracts up to 400,000 people.
“In the interest of the health and safety of our partners, participants, team, volunteers and patrons, the festival has made the decision to cancel all remaining events, effective immediately as a precautionary containment measure,” said event publicist, AMPR, in a statement. Tickets will be reimbursed via event partner Eventfinda.
The VAMFF announcement came a few hours after the abrupt cancellation of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, which had been due to run at Melbourne’s Albert Park over the weekend.
At press time, the virus had claimed the lives of three people in Australia, with cases quadrupling over the past week to almost 200. Cases include Tom Hanks

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Sao Paulo Fashion Week has joined the long list of global fashion weeks and events to be canceled due to the coronavirus.
The event canceled its spring 2020 edition, scheduled to take place April 24 to 28, said co-founder Graca Cabral.
“Due to the recent announcement of COVID-19 pandemic, Sao Paulo Fashion Week has decided to cancel all shows scheduled for April 24 to 28,” she told WWD. “Considering the atypical scenario and wishing to preserve health and wellness of all, the Festival SPFW + and international conference will be rescheduled.”
Cabral, who co-leads production company Luminosidade, said that an event to mark SPFW’s 25th anniversary remains confirmed for Oct. 16 to 20, however.
In Colombia, Colombia Fashion Week, or Colombiamoda, remains on schedule for July 28 to 30, said organizer Inexmoda’s executive director Carlos Eduardo Botero. “We are still promoting the event and none of our exhibitors or sponsors have yet told us they will be cancelling their travel plans amid virus disruptions,” Botero said.
In Mexico, however, Mexico Fashion Week said the physical event for its fall-winter season in April will be canceled but that it will host its runway shows through digital platforms.

Sao Paulo Fashion Week joins similar international fashion weeks

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Peruvian Connection, known for its artisan-made apparel collections, alpaca coats and knits, is venturing into the home category with a bedding collection.
The mixed-print sets of cotton sateen sheets and duvets, woven and knit alpaca throws and pillows, printed velvet pillows and matelassé cotton coverlets with shams, $115 to $430, will be available in Peruvian Connection retail stores and online beginning in July. Designed in-house — the company is based just outside Kansas City, Mo. — the 15-piece collection incorporates new and archival prints based on Andean weavings and other “ethnographic textiles” that have inspired founder Annie Hurlbut Zander over the years.
Hurlbut, a Yale-educated anthropologist who launched the brand while living in Peru in 1976, has had a lifelong obsession with textiles, amassing a collection of antique rugs, tapestries, quilts and wall hangings from around the world. Since Peruvian Connection opened its first brick-and-mortar retail in 2008, she has turned her interior decorating passion to the brand’s eight stores, including the newest outpost in Aspen, outfitting them with smoke-stained Victorian wallpaper, vintage cash wraps, and Andean textiles— all reminiscent of those in her own home.
“The idea for bedding has been incubating for years…the general inspiration came from my own personal experience

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