TIME OUT: British couture and ready-to-wear label Ralph & Russo has chosen to sit out the spring 2021 couture season.

“As the COVID-19 situation is worsening and due to Covid restrictions, we have taken the decision not to proceed with the our spring 2021 couture collection and presentation,” said Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo, in a statement issued this morning.

The label is hoping to return to the couture calendar in July 2021.

Since the coronavirus outbreak, the label has been diversifying its offer beyond eveningwear to loungewear, a new sneaker dubbed 4.0, as well as lingerie and eyewear created in collaboration with La Perla and Linda Farrow respectively.

It has also been dipping its toes into technology, joining forces with the smart-glasses company Photon Lens to showcase its spring 2021 rtw collection using bespoke AR headsets.

Fashion weeks in Paris for men’s and couture will go ahead, but designers won’t be allowed to invite guests this season, as physical gatherings have been prohibited throughout France.

Earlier this week, Jean Paul Gaultier said it would postpone the showing of a one-off couture collection by Sacai’s Chitose Abe, originally scheduled for Jan. 27, to the next high-fashion gathering.

The postponement sets the stage for an exceptionally buzzy couture week this summer — health conditions allowing. The July schedule includes the return of couture from Balenciaga, 53 years after Spanish master Cristóbal Balenciaga shuttered his house. (That debut has also been postponed twice.)

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