Fall is in the air so you know what that means, it’s the season of Fashion Month. Runway shows, models, backstage parties, new fall collections, and of course, influencers! Unless you are a fashion guru, are in the fashion industry, or live in one of the big 4 locations for Fashion Month, you only know that fashion week is happening from the coverage that you’re getting from your Instagram feed filled with fashion influencers, bloggers, and moguls alike. Thanks to social media influencers, all of us now get a virtual front-row seat and behind the scenes access to the exclusive world of fashion week. The once elite and invite-only showcase of fashion’s most prestigious designers has now evolved to recognize how valuable social media influencers are to the fashion world. Move over models, influencers are the new style icons pushing new designs and brands!
For our fashion newbies out there who might not know exactly what Fashion Month is, we’re referring to the well known and heavily publicized Fashion Weeks. These are known as the “Big Four” and take place in the fashion capitals of the world: New York City, London, Milan, and Paris. Fashion week happens twice a year for each of these cities and the weeks are lined up back to back with each other thus the term “Fashion Month”.
Now that we’re all informed of what Fashion Month is, let’s talk about how influencers are changing the scene for Fashion Month. While all eyes used to focus on what celebrities were wearing in the front row of the show, or what the well-known models were wearing to and from runway shows and who they were walking for, the audience has now shifted their attention. Bloggers and social media influencers have now become a prevalent fixture of Fashion Week. Instead of celebrities in the front row, top influencers are given the privileged seats and given backstage access so they can do what they do best: posting photos and content to social media about the shows and Fashion Week experience itself. Fashion Week is evolving from a prestigious event that only the elite could attend to something that more audiences can feel a part of due to influencers’ ability to share their experiences via social media with their followers.
Beyond just giving the public access to inside the guarded tents of fashion week through their feeds, influencers have shifted the scene outside of private tents, with their infinite buzz of photo opportunities and endless outfit content. Now, all of the fuss seems to be about what’s going on around the runway shows, rather than just the runway shows themselves.
While this is all very exciting for influencers and their breakthrough to being an important part of the elite fashion scene, let’s talk about what this means for brands utilizing influencer marketing. As we all know by now, influencer and social media marketing is the most successful and hot tool in brand advertising. So how can a brand use influencer marketing to promote their product and integrate themselves into the exuberant world of Fashion Week? Here are a few suggestions.
Outfit changes
Many influencers will do multiple outfit changes in a day to maximize their content creation and showcase brands. Did it even happen if you didn’t take a photo? Influencers will post photos to their social media accounts multiple times a day to share with their followers their outfits, which makes for the obvious opportunity for brand collaborations. While some influencers might be photographed in designer pieces from the shows that they are attending, the exposure is all the same so if you are a clothing brand looking to maximize your return, influencer marketing at Fashion Week is the way to go. Having an influencer wear your brand while attending Fashion Week shows, creating content about your brand, and ramping up your hashtags will yield significant marketing success from fashion’s most popular week.
Creative product placement
We all know that sponsored posts can sometimes be inauthentic and boring. So when collaborating with influencers for Fashion week, make sure to ask yourself a few questions ahead of time to make sure the integration is seamless and exciting. For example, an important question to ask is how does your product fit into the life of an influencer during fashion week? Is your product a mineral water that keeps them hydrated while they’re skipping from show to show? A dry shampoo that keeps their hair volumized throughout the day so they are always ready for a photo? Or a makeup product that keeps them looking fresh? Then once you know how it integrates into their life at Fashion Week, then think of what is the photo moment. Maybe in between shows the influencer is in a Taxi or Uber racing to the next event with their friends in the car helping them touch up their makeup, hair, etc. The photo will seem like real life because it is. Is it the real craziness of Fashion Week brought to life by the influencer with your product integrated in. For any brand you need to think of creative ways that your product can benefit influencers during the busy week and how they can seamlessly integrate your product into their fashion week experience to share with their audience.
Behind the scenes involvement
Everyone likes to feel like they are in the front row at fashion week and even if we can’t be, that’s what influencers are for! Utilizing influencers to make their followers feel like they are a part of something as exciting as Fashion Week is enticing for audiences. Hosting events or creating opportunities for content creation of your most recent product during Fashion Week gives influencers the opportunity to attend and give their followers behind the scenes access. Brands can sponsor backstage events and invite influencers to advertise their new products and their overall brand to get more attention from consumers. This year, Tresemme did just that by inviting influencers to their pop up salons to get ready for the week and gifting out hair products for in between show touch ups. Events and gifting like this will further generate exposure to your brand and give influencers the ability to create and share content with their audience. Behind the scenes involvement makes content feel more authentic and genuine which will drive more consumers to your brand.
With the state of our social world and the industry today, it’s no surprise that influencers have taken Fashion Week by storm. While of course brands leverage influencer clout year round, Fashion Week has become a new bustling opportunity for influencers to create content and build their personal brand, as well as the opportunity for brands who aren’t necessarily high fashion designers to get in on the profits the high profile month rakes in. Not only do us non-elite average people feel that we have 24/7 coverage to the most exciting week in fashion, brands are able to drive their exposure through influencer’s nonstop content. So now, influencers and brands alike, go strut your stuff at Fashion Week’s next location!