How the Coronavirus Is Impacting the Fashion, Beauty and Retail Industries7 Ways Coronavirus Is Impacting Fashion, Beauty and Retail

The impact of the coronavirus is being felt by virtually every industry.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which amassed roughly 8.3 million cases and caused over 440,000 deaths globally as of June 18, has led to the disruption of everyday life, with local governments enacting strict measures to contain the virus’ spread.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have made such orders to prohibit large gatherings, including closures of restaurants, bars, gyms, nightclubs and other businesses. These measures have affected myriad fashion and beauty businesses, many of which are now closing their doors for an indefinite period of time.

From major event cancellations and fashion week disruptions to the lengthy list of store closures, here are seven ways COVID-19 is impacting fashion, beauty and retail.

1. Fashion Stocks Plummet:

7 Ways Coronavirus Is Impacting Fashion, Beauty and Retail
A stockbroker in Frankfurt, Germany Michael Probst/AP/Shutterstock

The stock market has experienced significant declines for the last few weeks as COVID-19 has rapidly spread across the globe.

On March 16, trading was halted shortly after markets opened and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,820.41 points (or 7.9 percent) to 21,365.21, further pushing the market into bear territory.

Among those hit hardest by the decline are G-III Apparel Group (down 27.1 percent to $11.07), Capri Holdings (down 26.2 percent to $10.29), RealReal Inc. (down 19.3 percent to $7.02), Tapestry Inc. (down 19.3 percent to $13.10) and Nordstrom Inc. (down 17 percent to $17.93).

2. Fashion Industry Rallies:

7 Ways Coronavirus Is Impacting Fashion, Beauty and Retail
Chiara Ferragni and Fedez at Fendi’s fall 2020 show. Swan Gallet/WWD/Shutterstock

Many influential figures and fashion designers are coming together to raise funds to combat COVID-19’s global spread, many of whom are donating money or resources to Italian hospitals and institutions.

The growing list of benefactors include luxury groups Kering, which donated 2 million euros to Italian health-care organizations, and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which is manufacturing hand sanitizer at all its perfume and cosmetics facilities to donate to French health authorities.

Powerhouse influencer Chiara Ferragni and her husband, Fedez, launched a GoFundMe fund-raiser on March 9 — making a personal donation of 100,000 euros — to raise money to create new hospital beds in intensive care areas of Milan’s San Raffaele hospital. The fund-raiser has amassed more than 4 million euros.

Others donating for the cause include Giorgio Armani, Donatella Versace, Marco Bizzarri of Gucci and Remo Ruffini of Moncler.

3. Fashion Week Disruptions:

The Fashion Weeks and Major Events Disrupted Because of Coronavirus
Giorgio Armani RTW Fall 2020 Courtesy Photo

COVID-19 hit Italy in the midst of Milan Fashion Week in late February, causing a number of designs — including Giorgio Armani, who barred a public audience to view his fall 2020 runway show — to rethink their show formats.

The virus has now caused many design houses to cancel or postpone their international resort 2021 shows, including Armani, Dior, Gucci, Hermès, Max Mara, Prada, Chanel and Versace.

The restaging of Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show, Ralph Lauren’s fall 2020 show and Burberry’s fall 2020 show are also being postponed due to the virus.

New York Bridal Week, which was scheduled for April 16 to 20, is going virtual, with designers encouraged to use Zoom and Join.me platforms to present their collections.

Several upcoming fashion weeks have since been canceled, including New York Resort Week, New York Men’s Week, Paris Men’s Week and Paris Couture Week. Milan Men’s Week is being consolidated with the women’s collections in September.

4. Major Events Canceled:

A number of high-profile events have been canceled over the last few weeks as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention enacted more stringent guidelines on large group gatherings.

These canceled events span virtually every industry, including fashion, film, technology and sports, among others. Among those canceled are the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, SXSW, the Tribeca Film Festival, Beautycon, the Boston Marathon and the 2020 Summer Olympics, among others.

Recent cancellations include the Met Gala, which Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour announced on March 16 will be postponed indefinitely, the CFDA Awards, which would have been held at the New York Public Library on June 8, and the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

5. Other Events Go Virtual:

Seven Ways Coronavirus Is Impacting Fashion, Beauty and Retail
Paris Hilton and Sophia Amoruso at the Girlboss Rally in 2019. RHTY/starmaxinc.com/Shutterstock

As several major events are being canceled due to COVID-19, others are going virtual to go forward with their pre-planned summits and trade shows.

The Girlboss Rally in Los Angeles is just one event to go digital, now offering free online streaming to a global audience. Attendees who already purchased a ticket — which ranged from $375 to $725 — for the initial event on April 25 will be receiving refunds. A date for the live-stream has not yet been revealed.

Other events going digital in light of COVID-19 are Zero Waste Summit, a two-day event on sustainability, the Fair Trade Campaigns National Conference and the Google Cloud Next: Digital Connect conference.

6. Retail Stores Shutter:

Retailers have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by shuttering their doors. In the last few days, a number of major retailers and brands announced their temporary closures in the U.S., including Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, H&M, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Sephora, Nike, Apple, Walmart, Urban Outfitters, Madewell, Everlane, Lululemon, Glossier, Reformation and Anthropologie, among others.

Major shopping malls, including New Jersey’s supersized mall American Dream and California’s South Coast Plaza and Rodeo Drive have also closed.

A few retailers are also closing their e-commerce sites temporarily, including Victoria’s Secret, Pink and TJX.

7. Beauty, Health and Fitness Chains Close

 In accordance with Cuomo’s order that all gyms — in addition to other businesses like movie theaters and casinos — in the state of New York were to close on March 16, health and fitness businesses like Equinox, SoulCycle, Tracy Anderson, 305 Fitness and SLT, among others, have closed.

Gym closures have led many to gravitate to at-home streaming workouts, including from businesses like Peloton, Exhale, DanceBody, Barre3, Skyting Yoga, The Sculpt Society, Pvolve, Physique57 and MWH Method, among others.

On the beauty front, Sephora has closed its doors in the U.S. and Canada and Ulta Beauty has closed its doors and furloughed its store and salon associates. Other New York City beauty spots, including Bumble and bumble, Heyday, Glowbar, Sundays Studio, Chillhouse, Blushington and Tenoverten have closed temporarily.

Fabiana Pierre-Louis is on the brink of making history in New Jersey as the first African American woman to serve on

the state's Supreme Court.If confirmed, the 39-year-old would also become the youngest person ever to serve as a Justice on New Jersey's highest court.

"The thought of actually sitting on the court one day was not something that came across my mind as a law clerk," Pierre-Louis said.

When she graduated from Rutgers Law School and became a law clerk for former New Jersey Supreme Court John Wallace in 2006, Pierre-Louis says she was simply focused.

"I think my end game as a law student was to become an attorney and hopefully make an impact on the legal profession, in some way," Pierre-Louis said.

Now she's not only making an impact, she's making history.

"I know how important it is for young people to see people who look like them, or come from similar neighborhoods as them, or similar backgrounds, to see those people in positions of leadership," Pierre-Louis said.

Pierre-Louis grew up in Irvington after her family moved from Brownsville, Brooklyn when she was eight.

She's the daughter of Haitian immigrants. Her father was a New York City taxi driver who saved up to buy his own medallion while her mother spent more than 20 years working at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan.

"Their work ethic is something I've always looked up to,"Pierre-Louis said. "They worked extremely hard coming to a country where they didn't speak the language, didn't know many people and really established themselves."

While this nomination comes at a time of racial strife, Gov. Phil Murphy made it clear his nomination had nothing to do with that.

He started vetting Pierre-Louis back in February.

"Given the challenges which are being brought to the forefront of our society, and the questions which will undoubtedly rise to reach our supreme court, core issues of socio economic equality and equity, there is no better meeting of an individual and the times," Murphy said.

Pierre-Louis is currently in private practice, but before that she was the first African American woman to become the attorney-in-charge of both the Camden and Trenton field offices for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey.

"I just feel like I'm fortunate to be in this position and hope to be an inspiration to others," Pierre-Louis said.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti continued to record more cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on Friday with the authorities saying that the total had reached just shy of 5,000 cases since the first case was detected on March 19 this year.

The Ministry of Public Health in its daily bulletin said that 228 new cases were recorded on Friday, pushing the total to 4, 916.

It said there were also two deaths in the west and north west of the country, bringing the total to 84.

The Ministry said that 24 people had been healed of the virus that was first detected in China last December and blamed for 451,000 deaths and 8.39 people being infected worldwide.

The health authorities said that the number of active cases stood at 4,808 and that all 10 departments of the country recorded increases in their number of new cases.

They said that the number of suspected cases investigated since March 19, was now 3,813 cases.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the pandemic is now in a “new and dangerous phase” with the disease accelerating at the same time as people tire of lockdowns.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries and citizens to remain extremely vigilant.

“The pandemic is accelerating. More than 150,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported to WHO yesterday — the most in a single day so far,” Tedros told a virtual press conference, adding that almost half of those cases were reported from the Americas, with large numbers also being reported from South Asia and the Middle East.

“The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies,” he said, adding “but the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly and most people are still susceptible”.

CMC