“Limited capacity”, “priority of other markets”. These are some of the phrases that are repeated when brands do not invite you to a fashion show. Phrases that have been repeated more than ever during these fashion weeks. Most of the shows They have reduced their capacity and this past September, with more than a dozen debuts in the creative direction of the biggest names in luxury, the reduction in guests has been noticeable, a lot. Not only because the complaints of those who have traveled to Paris or Milan were heard on an infinite loop. Also because he has barely been seen influencers at big events. Just two years ago some brands were betting everything on content creators. Some even had little or no space for the traditional press. Today the figure of the digital prescriber sitting in the front row, phone in hand and dressed in the firm from head to toe seems to have passed away.
The fact that the shows have more limited access has to do with the sales crisis that luxury today faces. It is not, however, about reducing costs. Jonathan Anderson’s debut in Dior’s women’s line, for example, was held in the same Tuileries tent as always. What it is about is resurrecting that kind of exclusive halo that was lost a decade ago with those parades that resembled rock concerts and recovering the feeling of intimacy and privilege for the lucky guests.
Specialized reports agree that this return to exclusivity is the recipe to restore the attractiveness of luxury fashion, given that the slowdown in sales is due, to a large extent, to overexposure on networks. The latest report from the communication company The Independentsa conglomerate of fashion agencies (including Lucien Pagès, perhaps the agency that organizes the most fashion shows), points out that the new opinion leaders are among athletes, artists or even the CEOs of companies: “They are valued for their personal and professional achievements. The focus now is on the stories,” they explain. Another large fashion agency, Karla Otto, warned a year ago in its annual report about the reduction of influencers in fashion shows: in 2024, there were already half of them compared to 2023, although the media value of these events had grown, partly due to what the report calls “peripheral value”, and which responds to visibility and in engagement generated by celebrities (mainly from the K-Pop scene) when they attend one of their shows.
“Many brands have realized that their audience is not related to the influencers. In recent years, furthermore, some have asked for a lot of money, and it is not profitable,” explains Alberto Muñiz, from the Parisian agency KCD. “There are influencers They go for free because it positions them, but in general the firms no longer prioritize them. They look for other things,” he adds. Muñiz talks about profiles “that can narrate what they see from another point of view to a smaller but more loyal audience” and, above all, the return to the VIC (very important clients), millionaires who spend six figures annually on a brand and who are now treated as haute couture clients of yesteryear were treated. “They have doubled or even tripled their presence in the front rows. And it seems logical to me that this is the case. They are the ones who buy.” Many of these VIC’s are offered exclusive experiences: private visits to tourist attractions, spas, hotels or restaurants of the brands in question. “What is going to make luxury grow are exclusive experiences. So if you offer those who buy the product one of these exclusive experiences for free, they will continue buying,” he says.
It is unlikely that the big brands will do without the networks, but they have begun to control their own digital discourse and the dynamics of the photos and videos of the influencers classics does not seem to enter their plans. Nor at other brand events such as dinners or private parties: “It is possible that the idea that it is important to have visibility at all costs has been abandoned: it seemed that the number of followers of a character was the best way to assess the impact and perception of the brand. Naturally, and after several commercial failures, they realized that this was not the case,” explains Juan Marrero, partner of Replica Communication. “Now brands look for quality over numbers. It is interesting to collaborate with whoever makes content aligned with the brand’s DNA, so that their followers are truly potential customers,” he adds. Now, in addition, a new law, which requires you to detail when what you show is a gift or an advertising action, reduces the credibility of the prescriber.
More opinion and less posing
The lack of love between brands and influencers It is especially notable in high-end fashion. For several reasons. The first is economical. Marrero explains that “luxury pays less to the influencers than mass consumption or beauty. Therefore, if you are not a content creator who can only afford to work with certain brands, it is logical that you make agreements with other, more mainstream brands. “Then you stop being important for luxury,” he says. In fact, the few influencers Those who have attended the latest fashion shows have done so for brands with a powerful cosmetics line, such as Rabanne, Mugler or Prada. Its purpose is to promote the lipstick or perfume, not the bag.
The second reason has to do with focus. Now the story is once again of more interest than the image to generate the impression of authenticity and prestige. Hence, the classic digital creators who make a living by uploading photos dressed by a brand have been replaced in the fashion shows by the so-called ‘commentators’, people (mostly very young) who use the networks to comment on collections, appointments and trends as any fashion editor would do. The networks are filling up with these profiles: the young Frenchman Lyas has made a fortune (viral and economic) by bringing together anonymous people to see for themselves. streaming the parades in bars in Paris, Milan or London; the anonymous account Boring not com, She is famous for criticizing everything, but she gets invitations to shows at a time when almost no one has them.
“Right now people really follow fashion. They’re not just interested in clothes,” explains Aritz Larrabe, a content creator who analyzes current events in the sector on his networks. “Before it was about seeing how this or that person combined their clothes. Now we are looking for more credible profiles that contextualize what is happening.” Larrabe explains that this new batch of prescribers was born in the heat of TikTok, where videos must be more natural and spontaneous to succeed. That’s why many influencers of Instagram have not been able to transfer their success to the Chinese network. “TikTok has eaten Instagram. And the profiles that were born from TikTok have more relevance in fashion,” says Larrabe. According to the digital monitoring platform Launchmetrics, 71% of the media impact of these fashion weeks came from TikTok. According to this platform, the profile that generated the most value was Loïc Pingent, a veteran videographer, director of fashion documentaries, who records behind the scenes of the main fashion shows where he interviews designers.
In another parallel world, that of Instagram, 60% of the digital interactions that have brought visibility to brands come from Asian actors and musicians. Hence they no longer need influencers traditional. Eastern and Western actors, athletes, singers and even writers win the battle of virality. “Brands select profiles that may not have as much relevance in networks but are references in their sector. It is not unusual to find an architect, a poet or an illustrator in a fashion show now. The formula based on influencers “that they dress well was successful in its day because of its closeness to its followers, but it no longer works in the same way,” says Marrero.
Aritz Larrabe believes we’ve somehow returned to 2009, when bloggers Tavi Gevinson and Bryan Boy sat front row at Dolce & Gabbana. They both wrote about fashion with certain criteria and dressed in a non-normative way. Today Gevinson is an actress and Bryan, despite not having gotten rid of the label of original influencer works as a magazine editor perfectbut they opened the doors to dozens of influencers who came in droves to the shows and who, as the legendary editor Suzy Menkes then scandalized, “replaced the fashion crows, professionals always dressed in black, to dress like peacocks and focus attention on their outfits and poses more than on the collection they were going to see.” Everyone stopped giving their opinions and dedicated themselves to posing.
It is quite likely that something similar will happen with the new emerging stars, the commentators. This past season The New York Times echoed the level of hatred that some of those commentators’ criticisms gave off. Criticism, also, from people who did not attend any parade. “I guess they do it to win.” engagement and followers, but for me the videos that work the most are videos with good reviews, even from little-known brands that I liked,” explains Aritz. Nobody would tell the director of a film to “retire” or that “Buñuel’s films were better.” Nor to a singer. But in fashion, which is still not very well known if it is culture or business (as if culture were not a business) it happens constantly. The fact that these haters Gain followers by hating can open the doors to those parades that you hate so much. And if they come, it is very unlikely that they will be criticized. It changes hands, but it does not change the story.
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