Gone are the days when the world of fashion was a hermetic and impenetrable sector, in which only those who met a
certain aesthetic standard or who had managed to make a name for themselves as professionals were part of.
Designers, models, stylists, makeup artists, photographers, journalists… they were and are part of the exclusive cast that
the rest of humanity felt light years away from being able to conquer.
But today, in 2017, the reality is very different. The scenario is different and invaded by new actors, who have
revolutionized the traditional nature of fashion. In short, the industry has left its secrecy behind and has opened
the door to them: the influencers, who seem to have arrived to revolutionize the sector and become part of it.
Change of course
Without a doubt, the rise of Social Media has pushed potential influencers into the spotlight, where today we can say
that they move like fish in water. And this is according to data from the reportFashion in abundance, prepared
by PwC , every week more than 1 million users interact in Spain linkedin database through social platforms (mainly on
Instagram, followed by YouTube) and 3.8 million searches are carried out on Google about fashion brands.
In this sense, in the same report PwC states that the problem is that there is a disconnect between what brands
talk about and what consumers talk about on social media . And that is the crux of the matter: that was and is
the need that influencers came to cover, who already form an intermediate channel between consumers and brands.
Ultimately, these are people with whom consumers identify and that is precisely what strengthens them and gives them
credibility. Brands want to know what people want and have found a way. That is why they are allocating more resources
every day to include Influencer Marketing in their strategy.
What’s going on?
Fashion influencer This change of direction has led to the emergence of new names who are putting their faces on some of
the most important campaigns in the fashion sector. Names who have hundreds of thousands of followers and who have sometimes replaced models and celebrities in projects that, until now, were exclusively reserved for them.
The closest case in time occurred a couple of weeks ago in theDolce & Gabbana men’s showat Milan Fashion Week under
the hashtag #DGmillenials. What was so special about it? Its cast was imagine having a personal almost entirely made up
of influencers from the world of Instagram, YouTube, etc. Pelayo Diaz, Cameron Dallas and Sergio Carvajal were some of the lucky ones who made a strong entrance on the catwalk in the capital of the Duomo.
But the examples do not stop in Italy, but rather begin to form a long list: Chiara Ferragni as ambassador for the Spanish
Pronovias, Alexis Ren parading for Rosa Clarà in Barcelona or starring business to consumer reviews alongside his ex-partner Jay Alvarrez in a campaign for Pull&Bear; or Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid opening and closing catwalks around the world.
Detractors
But influencers have not only taken over covers and Fashion influencer been featured in campaigns, but each season they also occupy more space in the front row of the catwalks and in many cases have replaced fashion journalists by being considered as prescribers in magazines or by large firms.
All this has led to the emergence of some detractors within the sector itself, who downplay the activities of influencers and claim that a ‘fashion circus’ is growing around fashion . To the point that even the magazine itselfVogue even went so far as to attack influencersin one of his publications.