TikTok launches digital fashion month

For the past few months, fashion brands have been attempting to tap into the pockets of Gen-Z consumers by way of TikTok. From brands like Celine & Saint Laurent streaming their digital shows and campaigns on the platform to Gucci & Prada collaborating with some of the most popular TikTok influencers in an attempt to gain and keep the attention of the young consumers. Brands have been grappling in an attempt to find and conquer the next big digital platform, Burberry even announced their first live streamed show on the platform Twitch next week. However based on TikTok's platform’s interactive format, viral numbers have been harder to reach than expected. Which is why this season the social network decided to take the reins and partner with brands on the launch of #TikTokFashionMonth: from September 10th of till October 8th, the TikTok community, fashion brands, creators and celebrities will strut their stuff through a series of hashtags, LIVE streams and new creative effects . 

The TikTok digital fashion will feature hashtags, new creative features and live streams of two shows a week from brands like Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, JW Anderson, Alice + Olivia among others. As many people across the world are still in quarantine, many brands are deciding to option out of the traditional physical September fashion week and instead continue towards a digital direction. 

"During the pandemic, and with fashion weeks currently a thing of the past, luxury brands must shift their perspectives on how to engage audiences, and deliver content that is not a replication of fashion weeks, but a reimagination of it that works on new channels like TikTok,"  explained Thomas Rankin, cofounder and CEO of the visual marketing platform Dash Hudson in an interview with Business Insider. 

With a total of over 100 million monthly viewers, a great percentage of whom are under 24, the platform’s format for fashion content is very different from the standardised content that would function on instagram or Facebook. Much of the fashion content that has gone viral in the past few months are personalised content like challenges such as the 3.8M viewed #harrystylescardigan hashtag which required users to recreate their best versions of a JW Anderson cardigan worn by Harry Styles, or the 6.2M viewed #GucciModelChallenge which saw users digging into their wardrobes to dress like Gucci models. These aren’t started by the brands themselves, but are rather new trends that randomly pick up. TikTok’s partnership with these brands is an attempt to crack the code of the unpredictable nature of the platform’s fashion content in helping them to officially get their feet through the door. 

"We've seen the fashion industry reinvent what luxury fashion means to culture and society through TikTok by bringing fashion into the homes of our community during quarantine, this is just another way for our brand partners to leverage the platform's authentic and community-driven approach to showcase their art, creativity, and personalities in a unique and truly TikTok way,” explained TikTok’s fashion content partnerships lead CeCe Vu during the announcement.

Check out the confirmed schedule here:

9/2 - Louis Vuitton Men’s Runway
9/6 - ‘Fashion Essentials’ with Wisdom Kaye
9/9 - Saint Laurent Runway
9/18 - ‘Get The Look’ with Ariam
9/28 - JW Anderson Collection Reveal
10/8 - TikTok Runway Odyssey with PUMA and Alice + Olivia