An increasing number of direct-to-consumer brands are growing their business exclusively with the help of influencers. This success is particularly tangible between DTC brands and fashion influencers.
Fashion Influencers in 2020: An Overview
Fashion influencers care about style, practicality, and everything in between. Many of them are models, while others embrace their clothing hobby on a modest budget at home.
Most fashion influencers have an international familiarity with fashion and art. Their exposure to many different cultural expressions nurtures within them an intuition for color, fit, and diverse social expectations.
While clothing direct-to-consumer brands lean heavily upon fashion influencers, a host of non-clothing brands also partner with these creatives. Travel, accessory, health/fitness, and even car manufacturers can achieve enormously valuable user-generated content (UGC) with the help of fashion influencers.
Choosing the Right Fashion Influencer
Fashion influencers can be picky about brands with which they associate, particularly when it comes to clothing lines. You should be equally selective to ensure that you get the most out of each influencer campaign.
- What are your influencer marketing goals? As you recruit fashion influencers, you want to be upfront with them about your campaign objectives. Many of these influencers maintain their own blogs, vlogs, and photography studios. By informing them about your goals for revenue, UGC, web traffic, and brand awareness, they will feel more empowered to help you achieve those goals through the best mediums.
- Does your audience align with the influencer’s audience? You should pay careful attention to who an influencer’s audience is. By combing through influencer posts, you’ll notice that each influencer resonates with particular genders, income levels, and nationalities. Make sure that your and the influencer’s audience aligns to help you achieve maximum ROI.
- Does the influencer have excellent engagement metrics or only vanity metrics? As is sometimes the case, an aspiring influencer might possess a considerable following but does not generate much by way of post comments and shares. If the fashion influencer you’re recruiting doesn’t have ample post engagement, then their follower and like counts constitute vanity metrics. In contrast, accomplished influencers know how to create excitement among their online communities, and they will have the engagement metrics to show for it.
How DTC Brands Should Use Fashion Influencers
How your brand leverages influencer marketing in your industry depends a great deal on your objectives.
Some fashion influencers have immense experience with creating product reviews – often for clothes, accessories, and wearables. Others are masters at social media contests or publicizing product launches and sales.
Thankfully, fashion influencers are not only creative, but also incredibly business savvy. If you open up creative brainstorming to your influencer, you’ll be able to generate many profitable campaign ideas to help you reach your marketing objectives.
Top 10 Fashion Influencers
Influencer #1: @tamumcpherson
Image via Instagram
Tamu McPherson is about as international as any fashion influencer you’ll find. Born in Jamaica, Tamu spent most of her life in Italy’s fashion capital, Milan. She is also an avid photographer and journalist.
McPherson loves style and knows how to flaunt that style around the globe. But more than fashion, Tamu loves minimalism and a low maintenance lifestyle.
“I think it’s really important that you actually wear everything in your closet. For two years I suffered with really stubborn creative block,” Tamu told Net-a-Porter. “De-cluttering is so important; all that extra stuff had really been weighing on me.”
Tamu can seamlessly alternate among traditional African garb, Milan’s most elegant outfits, and business casual attire. She engages audiences on Instagram, YouTube, and her website, All The Pretty Birds.
Influencer #2: @natalinanoel
Image via Instagram
It’s almost unfair at this point that Natalie Mariduena remains in the shadow of Vlog Squad’s founder, David Dobrik. Even though Natalie is still David’s celebrity assistant, she’s also a fast-developing fashion and beauty influencer.
With or without formal brand ambassadorship, Natalie knows style. And fashion brands that partner with her are likely to receive bonus appearances from David Dobrik. Rumor has it that they are more than colleagues.
Regardless, Natalie maintains over 2 million Instagram followers and also engages her audiences on Twitter, Snapchat (natalinanoel1), and TikTok.
Influencer #3: @giampaolo_alliata
Image via Instagram
You wouldn’t expect a 60-year-old suit salesperson to be a social media power user, but Giampaolo Alliata is not afraid to break the rules.
If it weren’t for Giampaolo, double-breasted suits might be long gone. He wears only the best-tailored suits and is more than happy to play with unique color schemes. Fashion influencers love Giampaolo because he shows off clothes and accessories as few men can.
Fashion is in Mr. Alliata’s DNA. He grew up with two parents that had already made a name for themselves in the Italian clothing industry. Giampaolo apprenticed with some of the best suit makers in the world before building his 40,000+ Instagram following.
Influencer #4: @bighairloudmouth
Image via Instagram
Nilu Yuleena Thapa is Big Hair Loud Mouth with three priorities in life: “Style, Travel and Beauty.”
India’s premier fashion expert, Nilu Yuleena is an accomplished lifestyle blogger and award-winning model. Nilu intended to build a career in engineering, but after seeing the success of her blog, she embraced the “big hair loud mouth” personal brand instead.
Nilu says, “Big hair does not imply a voluminous hair, contrary to what it sounds like. I’m a person who changes my hairstyle/hair-colour very often, and loud mouth stands for my love of bold lip-colours that I’m rarely seen without.”
Yuleena showcases casual wear for fans on Instagram and Twitter. Her fashion blog remains her primary outlet as an influencer.
Influencer #5: @margaret__zhang
Image via Instagram
Margaret Zhang is prolific in so many fields that the South China Morning Post declared, “Is there anything influencer Margaret Zhang can’t do?”
This Chinese-Australian entrepreneur began blogging and modeling during college. Before graduation, she had already built a handful of successful business ventures. Today, Margaret is a full social media and business consultant. She’s also filming a documentary featuring the day-to-day lives of women in China.
Despite her already busy life, Miss Zhang is still active on social media and partners with brands for powerful influencer campaigns in fashion, beauty, food, and more.
Influencer #6: @haleypham
Image via Instagram
Vietnamese-American Haley Pham launched her influencer brand as a way to support herself and her mother financially. Today, she is one of Shorty Awards’ “Breakout YouTubers of the Year.”
One of the youngest fashion influencers on our list, Haley enjoys 3 million followers between her Instagram and YouTube channels. She is also a versatile influencer, sharing lifestyle tips, beauty products, clothes/accessories, and even DIY projects.
Most recently, Haley documents gifting and renovating a new home for her mother (and closest friend).
Influencer #7: @matthewzorpas
Image via Instagram
Already a fashion celebrity after his work debuted in The Gentleman Blogger, Matthew Zorpas’ fame increased after the release of Make/Believe. The award-winning film dove into the personal life of Matthew as a European fashion expert and social media guru.
Mr. Zorpas’ fashion influencer career has taken off since with a particular focus on male elegance. He is also an adjunct professor at Regents College, Instituto Marangoni, and the London College of Fashion.
Matthew engages his audience on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Influencer #8: @weworewhat
Image via Instagram
Danielle Bernstein launched We Wore What while a college student in New York City. Within a few years, she was one of Forbes “30 Under 30.” Today, she engages over 2 million fans on Instagram.
Danielle’s favorite look is the classy street style. But she is versatile enough of a fashion influencer to showcase all apparel, including formal, loungy, active, and more.
Influencer #9: @manuellax
Image via Instagram
Among the most steamy of Instagram fashion celebrities is Manuella Mosca, a former model and now mom, fashion CEO, and influencer.
For brands interested in boudoir-style content, Manuella offers impeccable taste in creativity and color. She partners with her husband for more intimate sets, and they frequently travel the world to find breathtaking locations for family photoshoots.
While Manuella’s Instagram presence is strong, she’s expressed a desire to grow her following on YouTube and Twitter. She also owns Sorelle UK, an online clothing store.
Influencer #10: @bramty
Image via Instagram
Bramty Juliette and Luis (adoring husband) form the YouTube and TikTok-famous “Bramfam.” What began as a rushed Navy wedding with a pregnant bride blossomed into an endearing social media family.
Bramty’s influencer career was well underway by 2016 and nearly broke social media altogether when she gave birth to twins in 2018.
When it comes to fashion, Bramty loves dressing up with her family. From pajamas to classy, casual outfits, the Bramfam is one of the best-dressed families on Instagram. She also engages audiences on TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter.
In Conclusion
As you can see, fashion influencers are versatile, dynamic, and savvy. They make fantastic business partners during a marketing campaign. Before hiring your first fashion influencer, make sure to identify your campaign objectives and expectations.
If you’ve selected your team of influencers carefully, you’ll be able to trust them to deliver results. For additional tools to help you launch your fashion influencer campaign, check out these related articles below:
This article originally appeared in the Grin.co blog and has been published here with permission.
