Twice a year, Paris hosts what’s perhaps the most awaited Fashion Week in the international circuit. The seven-day event, organized by Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), welcomes brands, fashion industry professionals and celebrities from all over the world to unveil and discover the newest fashion design offerings.

The most recent Paris Fashion Week edition took place between February 26 and March 5.  Just like every season, the software and data company Launchmetrics — which specializes in the Fashion, Luxury, and Beauty (FLB) industry — monitored Media Impact Value™ (MIV®) figures at the event.

In a press conference, Launchmetrics CEO Michael Jaïs presented the main data takeaways of Fall Winter 2024 Paris Fashion Week. Read on to discover the voices, brands, and channels that drove the performance of the seven-day fashion extravaganza.

Paris is the Cultural Epicenter of Fashion 

Originally an industry-only event, in recent times, Paris Fashion Week (PFW) has grown to become a cultural affair. As Jaïs explains, Paris is now the cultural epicenter of fashion and its impact has surpassed the confines of the industry. 

In its latest edition, Paris Fashion Week generated $425.5 million in MIV®. A great percentage of the total numbers (87%) was generated within the first 48 hours post-event, proving that the excitement and interest for PFW were at an all-time high.  

Just like it happened at other global Fashion Weeks, Instagram emerged as the top social media platform for content-sharing. Volume-wise, 49% of the impact was generated on the social network site, while 21% originated online and 12% came from TikTok. When it came to efficiency, however, YouTube obtained the highest average MIV® per placement ($11.9K).

The Top Voices 

Although media rose as the dominating voice at Paris Fashion Week, accounting for 67% of the voice mix, celebrity voices are increasingly more popular and effective in driving attention to brands. At PFW, celebrity voices amassed on average $47k per placement, which is about four times the average per placement. 

The ranking was once again dominated by celebrities from the Asia Pacific region. Filipino icons Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach and Heart Evangelista — who attended a slew of fashion presentations including Balmain, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Acne Studios —  took first and second place, accruing  $6.8 million and $3.5 million in MIV® respectively. K-pop and K-drama stars Momo, Jang Wonyoung and Ahn Hyo-Seop rounded up the ranking, amassing $3.1 million, $2.1 million and $2.1 million each. 

The Top Placements

Similar to Milan Fashion Week, where stars from K-pop group NCT were responsible for the top placements at the event, K-pop stars were behind the top placements at Paris Fashion Week.

“South Korea continues to be a big focus for brands,” said Jaïs. “This season we saw three South Korean [entertainment] ambassadors authoring the top placements related to Paris Fashion Week overall.” 

The stars in question were members of K-pop groups SEVENTEEN, IVE and TWICE. Miu Miu’s brand ambassador, Wonyoung (IVE), and Saint Laurent front-row attendant, Jeonghan (SEVENTEEN), were responsible for Instagram posts worth $1.2 million in MIV® while Momo (TWICE) authored a publication that garnered $1.1 million in MIV®.

The Louis Vuitton Case

But brands are not tapping APAC stars as front-row attendants only. Louis Vuitton, which emerged as the top brand at Paris Fashion Week this season, also leveraged the influence of its brand ambassadors on the runway. To celebrate Nicolas Ghesquière’s 10th anniversary as creative director, the brand presented a star-studded show at the Louvre Palace where one of the main highlights was the runway debut of Australian star Felix Lee — member of K-pop group Stray Kids. The bold move garnered over $9.1 million in MIV® worth in mentions, representing nearly 25% of Louis Vuitton’s total coverage. 

The show was also attended by high-profile celebrities including Lisa Manobal and Emma Stone, who respectively drove $6.3 million and $3.5 million in media conversations. Ghesquière’s anniversary show ultimately gathered $36.3 million in MIV®.

Dior and Saint Laurent 

Dior and Saint Laurent completed the brand ranking at Paris Fashion Week. Dior garnered a total of $32.7 million in MIV®, while Saint Laurent made it to the third place with $28.7 million generated via two shows.

At Dior, the top placement was authored by Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, whose Instagram post was worth $314K in MIV®. Meanwhile brand ambassador Jisoo and show regulars Jennifer Lawrence and Rosalia prompted media attention worth $6.4 million, $5.2 million and $4 million respectively.

The top celebrity voice at Saint Laurent was Jeonghan Yoon, who as per Launchmetrics, “authored the show’s top placement worth $1.2M in MIV®.” Other APAC names such as Heart Evangelista and Kento Yamazaki generated $604K and $530K each, on their own social channels. On the other hand, brand ambassador Rosé drove media conversations worth $4.2 million in MIV®.

APAC Region Continues its Reign 

As seen in other global Fashion Weeks, the presence of APAC stars continues to drive brand performance and media coverage. Brand ambassadors, campaign stars and influential names from South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines made waves with their presence at events. In addition to the personalities in the celebrity ranking, other stars such as former 2NE1 member Sandara Park ($1.2 million), Thai actor Jumpol Adulkittiporn ($1.4 million), (G)I-DLE’s Minnie ($1.3 million), and Johnny of NCT ($1.9 million), garnered impressive MIV® figures with their attendance at fashion shows.  

“APAC in terms of celebrity marketing, celebrity impact, generates nearly double the MIV than EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa],” said Jaïs. “But beyond the data, something that stands out to me when I think of regional splits and how Paris Fashion Week impacts the global [industry], it’s […] how brands are moving [their] entertainment strategy to drive their marketing efforts. When we think about entertainment, we think about culture. Culture is a regional phenomenon but it also has a global impact.”

Jaïs also reflected on what makes APAC stars successful friends of the house, brand ambassadors and front-row guests. “Unlike most celebrities, they take the time to [interact with fans], take pictures, use the right hashtags on their content, so APAC celebrities make really impeccable ambassadors, bringing more than just star power. They strategically leverage their gigantic social media reach to promote not only themselves but the shows and to maximize brand exposure across a global audience.” 

Interested in more Paris Fashion Week content? Check out how to recreate Pat McGrath’s Ethereal look for the Louis Vuitton FW24 show here.

, , , , , ,