After a muted AW23, New York was close to $94 million in EMV this season — up 42 per cent on AW23 and 25 per cent on SS23 — thanks to the return of major labels like Ralph Lauren and Helmut Lang to the schedule. Michael Kors topped the New York ranking, driven by Vogue US’s Instagram, which generated $1.2 million EMV for the house, followed by Emily Ratajkowski ($903,000 EMV) and K-Pop star Dahyun ($774,000 EMV). On TikTok, Tory Burch (240k followers) posted a variety of content around its 11 September show. The brand posted over 70 times during New York Fashion Week, including day-in-the-life posts and behind-the-scenes videos from its show. Some of the videos amassed 500,000 views, according to TikTok.
London remained the smallest city in terms of EMV, reaching $21.6 million this season, up just 6 per cent on AW23 and up 240 per cent on SS23 when shows were pared back following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Much of the social media reach was driven by Daniel Lee’s second show for Burberry ($7.5 million EMV), followed by music artist Skepta’s brand Mains, which ranked second in the city with $3.3 million EMV. Emerging label Knwls climbed to third in the ranking this season, returning to the runway after a break for AW23, generating $2.6 million EMV by casting influencer Mia Khalifa in its show.
As the scores of screaming fans and Korean signs outside shows attested, Dahyun was one of many K-pop stars attending shows this season. Across the four cities, K-pop stars drove more than $46 million EMV, up 24 per cent on AW23, per Lefty, with brands tapping rising stars from new groups, as well as more familiar artists. K-pop stars represented half of the top 10 influencers at Milan Fashion Week. Prada ambassadors Enypen drove $11.8 million in EMV; DK of group Seventeen drove $5.8 million at Bally; girl group New Jeans drove $3.3 million at Gucci, NCT’s Jeno drove $3.1 million at Ferragamo, and Jaehyun drove $2.9 million at Prada.
The actor influx
As the SAG-Aftra strike continues, fashion month saw an influx of actors this season. Out of the 200 brands analysed by Lefty, 162 collaborated with actors on show attendance and content, generating a “remarkable” $255 million in EMV, says Lefty analyst Lea Mao. Actors dominated the EMV, accounting for 23.5 per cent of the total voice ahead of musicians (22.5 per cent) and influencers/KOLs (18.5 per cent). Lefty didn’t track actors’ share of voice for womenswear AW23, but for SS24, six actors featured in the top 30 influencers across cities, generating a combined $46.5 million in EMV. In comparison, during AW23, there were only three actors, amounting to $13.2 million in EMV, Mao says.
