The rise and rise of the ultra-influencer
When Kim Kardashian went up to receive the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Influencer Award this summer, even she was surprised. “I’m kind of shocked that I’m winning a fashion award,” she said on accepting her prize. “I’m naked most of the time.”
She has a point — but Ms. Kardashian still has major clout when it comes to pushing product. Next week, the fashion search platform Lyst releases its rundown of the key trends of the year, using data accrued by the 80 million people globally who use the site to shop for luxury goods, which are sourced from 12,000 different brands and stores. It confirms the pre-eminence of street label Supreme and the covetableness of Gucci accessories (its Marmont belt bag was the most wanted bag of the year, searched for every six seconds since its launch in May).
But the data also demonstrates the resurgent power of the ultra-influencer, whose impact is measured by the number of followers they command, and the spikes in demand that are brought about by their posts. Of the female influencers studied by Lyst, Ms. Kardashian, with 120 million Instagram followers and 59 million Twitter fans, comes in at number two. As CFDA board member Tommy Hilfiger points out: “Every time she wears, posts or talks about a fashion brand, there is an immediate and significant increase in both awareness and sales.” After she posted a picture of herself on Instagram in head-to-toe monogrammed Fendi, for instance, searches for the brand increased 16% in the following month.
Ms. Kardashian is outdone by only one person, her halfsister Kylie Jenner, the 21-yearold whose beauty brand is set to become a billion-dollar concern before the year is out. Ms. Jenner, youngest of the Kardashian brood, has 1 million fewer Instagram followers than Kim, but her fashion choices drove some 2 million searches on Lyst over the course of the year, causing upticks in everything from Adidas tracksuits to Dior sunglasses. In the 48 hours that followed her birthday party, to which she wore (among other outfits) a pink minidress, searches for pink dresses spiked by 107%.
Just outside the KardashianJenner axis of influence is the Duchess of Sussex (#3), who has swiftly become a high-profile ambassador for both British and American designers. She no longer has a personal Instagram account, but Lyst found that brands worn by the duchess are likely to see an almost instant uplift in demand: on average, searches increase 200% in the week after she has worn a designer’s clothes.
“We’re obsessed with mapping the virality of fashion trends,” says Katy Lubin, Lyst’s communications director. “Things can sell out in hours, and there can also be a halo effect of people searching for similar products or items by that brand. But sometimes we see a trend build slowly over time, with different sources of inspiration contributing along the way.”
Pop stars dominate the rest of the list, from Cardi B (#4) — who drove searches to designers including Christian Siriano and Jeremy Scott — to Beyoncé (#5), Rihanna (#9) and Ariana Grande (#10; her love of oversized hoodies has driven up searches for the look 130% year on year). “Pop stars have long used music videos to express their style and individuality, pushing creative boundaries,” says Ms. Lubin. “They have a powerful combination of authentic personality and individual style, and aren’t afraid to experiment when it comes to fashion. It’s a more bold, fearless take than what we see from Hollywood stars.”
Only one actress makes the top 10: Blake Lively, at number eight. Among her peers, neither Emma Stone nor Jennifer Lawrence nor Scarlett Johansson has a presence on social media. Ms. Lively, conversely, has cultivated a vast Instagram following (23.8 million), complemented by that of her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds (25.2 million). Influence, it seems, is increasingly tied to relatability: stagy appearances on the red carpet no longer cut it. See also Serena Williams (#6), the only sportswoman on the list, who inspired an 108% increase in searches for black tennis dresses after she wore a black Off-White x Nike tutu at the US Open, and whose Instagram profile is filled with candid shots of her and her family.
Everyone on the list is American, save one — 31-year-old Italian Chiara Ferragni (#7), who started her career almost a decade ago blogging under the name “The Blonde Salad”. Since then, she has developed a £7 million-a-year business taking in clothing, shoe and accessory lines. Many of her 15.4 million Instagram followers went scurrying for Dior product in the aftermath of her wedding to Italian rapper Fedez (who has 7.2 million followers himself) — searches for the brand increased 109% in the week after their extravagant ceremony this summer. Other global influencers, including K-pop star Chae-rin Lee (“CL”) and Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, feature further down the list (this can partly be explained by the fact that the majority of Lyst’s users are US-based), and Lyst is also working on a study of male influencers.
Other findings are more counterintuitive. On the day that Melania Trump flew to meet children at a Texas detention center in a Zara parka emblazoned with the words “I really don’t care. Do U?”, searches for Zara coats spiked 870%. Because the jacket was two years old, the effect on sales registered on second-hand sites, where the $39 garment was offered for more than $2,000.
When it comes to influencing, no publicity is bad publicity.