This past month, we saw Fashion Week in NYC, London, Milan and Paris. While fashion icons walked down the runway, a lucky few were able to to watch the models walk down the catwalk up close and in person, draped in the newest trends of the year.
This year, several themes were pervasive, and included everything from a few political statements to diversity issues. As these themes unfolded on the catwalk, the rest of the world watched from the television, or more often, saw the coverage as it came across their computer screens.
We’ve taken a deeper look at designers from New York and London, and pulled data on the designers that fashion fans across the globe were actually interested in reading about—these designers made the biggest splash during the two biggest Fashion Week shows of the year.
What really surprised us, and what provides the most insight into how the public responds to these brands, is the amount of time they spent with articles about them.
Marc Jacobs was the most widely read about designer in New York
When we looked at data from New York Fashion Week, Marc Jacobs stole the show across all platforms, but Calvin Klein followed as a close second.
Out of five brands—Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Coach 1941, and Yeezy—the race was pretty close between the two winners, but the other three brands fell farther behind.
Each brand was analyzed by popularity per country. During fashion week, we looked to determine who was the most popular designer by country by the numbers of users in the Taboola network who read about them, and then saw who was the most popular in the most amount of countries.
The Marc Jacobs brand brought something really different to their show, which may have set them apart from the crowd—the designer stripped his show from any distractions: no set, no music, and no photographer’s pit. With an extremely diverse cast, these things combined may be the reason he was read about the most.
In New York, Raf Simons׳ debuted at Calvin Klein. He previously served as Creative Director for several fashion brands such Jil Sander and Dior. The much-anticipated show was praised as a huge success.
While it looks like Coach 1941 fell far behind all of the other popular designers at Fashion Week NYC, that wasn’t the case when it came to tablet readers. They surged in their interest in Coach 1941, which came in 3rd place after Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein on these platforms.
Even though Marc Jacobs was the most popular designer in most countries, they didn’t spend the most time reading about the brand. When we took a deeper dive into session duration, Michael Kors was the designer that readers spent the most time with once they clicked.
When we talked to Will Noguchi, the Senior Assistant Visual Styling Manager for men’s clothing curator Bombfell and previous Visual Manager for Patricia Field, a designer that’s styled for popular shows such as The Devil Wears Prada, Sex and the City, and more. He had some interesting insights as to why this might be the case:
“Coach and Michael Kors are more prevalent in daily life, and are more attainable for the average person,” Noguchi said.
“ Marc Jacobs, on the other hand, is an edgier brand with a more forward aesthetic. It’s also not always as attainable as other brands. It’s important to note that what Michael Kors shows at Fashion Week is not what you’ll see in his diffusion line; sold at department stores.”
He also noted that Coach and Michael Kors have more popular diffusion brands, which could explain why more people read articles about those brands. While they were interested in the articles about the more foreign and trendy Marc Jacobs articles, they spent more time on all three brands that they’re probably most familiar with.
In London, the story is similar. While one designer is the most widely read about, the trend changes when we take a dive into how long readers actually spent with articles about a particular brand.
Victoria Beckham eclipsed everyone at London Fashion Week across the globe.
At Fashion Week London, Victoria Beckham made an impact on internet readers, who valued her fashion show more than others, and read about her the most globally. Her popularity is also derived by her status as mainstream celebrity, and she could have attracted this popularity during fashion week regardless of her designs.
Victoria Beckham showcased her new line in both New York and London Fashion Week, and received a lot of media attention during these shows due to her popularity.
Versace, while receiving much less readership than Victoria Beckham, was second in popularity. While the reason isn’t definitive, their Versus collection received a lot of media attention. The famous models Gigi, Bella Hadid and Taylor Hill appeared in their show.
Even though Victoria Beckham was the most popular and read about designer across the globe—readers didn’t actually spend the most time with her.
When we took a deeper dive into time spent reading these articles, J.W Anderson was the designer that they spent the most time engaging with across all reading platforms including desktop, mobile and tablet, globally.
J.W. Anderson captured the longest amount of attention from his readers. His designs are popular for their unique street style. Trendy participants were spotted in the front row of his show, like Alexa Chung, a famous British Fashion Model.
This Fashion Week data goes to show that just because certain articles are getting a lot of attention, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re all engaging these users on the same level. The difference between readership and time spent on fashion week articles changed the game for readers of fashion, and it will change for your readers as well.
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