Hype Seats Only
Influencers have become regarded as real “celebrities” in the mediascape, to some A Listers disdain, fashion houses have increasingly used them during fashion week to garner clicks and traction toward their collections.
Alex Consani wearing Marc Jacobs Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear at New York Fashion Week. Photographed by Alexandra Arnold.
Shot just before her viral video moment with Lil Uzi Vert, Consani stands on the steps in a deep red velvet gown cut with dramatic sculptural volume. The silhouette exaggerates form with a deliberate sense of tension—part floral, part armor—capturing the brand’s instinct for theatrical construction and visual precision. Framed by marble and shadow, the image reflects a shift in runway energy: more performative, more visible, yet tightly composed. Available via Elle Magazine. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
While using celebrities like actors, musicians, and athletes during fashion week as walking mannequins and front row spectacles to create commotion surrounding a brand is not a new concept, bringing influencers into the mix is somewhat of a novel strategy. And it’s working. By creating space at fashion shows for people who’ve amassed large social media followings, brands not only entice their audiences to take note of the featured collection, but also give influencers the opportunity to showcase their skills, creating content for their own pages or partnering with media outlets to further extend the collection's reach.
During Miu Miu’s spring 2025 show at Paris Fashion Week last fall, notable influencers Nara Smith, Addison Rae, and Alix Earle were all spotted sitting front row. In an attempt to garner the most reach, Miu Miu made the decision to showcase three influencers with drastically different fan bases and the online content produced for the show reflected as such. For example, Dazed posted an interview featuring both Nara Smith and Addison Rae in which Nara shared her love for Addison’s new song “Diet Pepsi.” Although this interview indirectly referenced the spring/summer 2025 show, the video amassed almost 700,000 likes, demonstrating that strategically using influencers for fashion marketing brings in an excess of viewership. On Alix Earle’s personal account, she posted a “Get Ready With Me” style video showcasing her full Miu Miu ensemble that she was wearing to go watch the show. Creating a more relatable tie between an influencer’s following and a brand’s clothing makes for higher consumership as consumers will think that if their favorite influencer is a Miu Miu girl, then they will be too.
Marc Jacobs is another prime example of a brand that uses influencer heavy marketing during fashion weeks. Incorporating internet personalities and culture into their social media content is something Marc Jacobs has become quite known for. For example, at the Marc Jacobs spring 2025 show during New York Fashion Week this past February, a video was posted on the Marc Jacobs account of an interaction between internet personality and 2024’s model of the year Alex Consani and rapper Lil Uzi Vert. During this video Alex used her comedic personality to ask Lil Uzi Vert about his favorite pieces in the collection after she herself walked in the show. To fans’ surprise, the two held a very dynamic conversation and the video amassed 1.2 million likes and 6.3 million views. Anything that Alex Consani touches on the internet strikes comedic gold, so it was a strategic move by Marc Jacobs to place her with another celebrity that would not necessarily be in her vicinity otherwise to obtain a mass audience for the brand’s newest collection.
The relatability factor of influencers is what makes them such a powerful tool in fashion marketing, especially during fashion week. Consumers tend to view A Listers as an unattainable standard, but influencers bring the realm of possibility down to consumers, making them more likely to tune into fashion shows and purchase products from a brand at their leisure.
