When Influencers become fashion designers

While, in 2016, someone is still wondering about what fashion bloggers do and what they get paid for, the Web has gone on and launched new phenomenons.

In recent years, one in particular has attracted our attention, namely the Influencers, key figures of today's fashion, who appear on any of your online timeline.

Influencers, in short, are all those very cool people you follow, in particular on Instagram, who always wear the latest trends, start new must-haves, have interesting lives of which you want know every single moment and, surprise!, try to sell you a product.

In our case, the Influencer category includes all fashion bloggers, It Girls, stylists, etc. who are source of inspiration for their followers, with their daily outfits and fashion tips. Every time your favourite blogger wears a specific dress, she is promoting it and, somehow, selling it. 

Jeanne Damas in Rouje

It's like a testimonial, who adds, thanks to some kind of transitive property, positive values of his public image to the product he promotes. But the Influencer is something more because it's an “undeclared” promotion, it's more fine. It appears like an “advice from a good friend” or when your bff wears a new, amazing dress and she makes you want to buy an identical one. 

What happens when these fashion Influencers become more powerful? Very simple: they become fashion designers.

Aware of their relevance, influence and less and less dependent on popular brands, the Influencers have been able, over time, to create their own self-brands to the point of launching their personal clothing lines.  

The numerous brands founded by some of the most followed It Girls on social are a proof of this phenomenon. The most famous is the Chiara Ferragni Collection, the Italian blogger's line of shoes, launched in 2013 and it's sold today in more than 300 stores worldwide. 

Chiara Ferragni Collection SS15

And this was just the beginning. Many other projects have emerged, for example Réalisation, launched by the two Instagram-stars Alexandra Spencer and Teale Talbot. Even the most popular Parisian fashion icon Jeanne Damas has her own clothing line: its name is Rouje Paris and it won the love of all of us shortly, thanks to its girly clothes which seem to come from a Sixties movie. 

Even here in Italy we have our business It Girls, the much-loved Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini, popular thanks to their looks. Last February, the two friends and partners in crime launched their personal brand, Attico, a perfect mix of elegance, sensuality and exoticism. 

Giorgia Tordini & Gilda Ambrosio, Attico

So, after musicians become fashion designers, today it's the turn of Influencers. 

It was predictable that girls who turned their passion into a job and who are, with their outfits, a source of inspiration for millions of users that follow them, would have launched their own fashion brands sooner or later. And that's what happened.

They have the right credentials: popularity and a solid basis of loyal fans who, most probably, will buy their clothes, right contacts for promoting their brand, a high esthetic taste and a large knowledge of the fashion world, and, in many cases, a certain economic stability. And, above all, they have succeeded in making a self-image which is synonym with good style and coolness, a guarantee for their brands. 

Giorgia Tordini & Gilda Ambrosio, Attico

Now the question is: did we need it?

Maybe not. I don't think that these brands or collaborations will change the fashion world or leave an indelible mark in our wardobe. However, they don't hurt anyone, so why we shouldn't we welcome them enthusiastically?

They are the result of a fashion industry that is ever more accessible, that allows people to promote their ideas. The fact that Influencers have an advantage for developing, promoting and selling their brands is undeniable, but this doesn't mean they will damage other emerging fashion designers. 

But, if you turn up your noses by doubting the real quality of these brands, this is a matter that concerns each specific case. The fact that behind a dress there is a fashion blogger rather than a fashion designer doesn't mean it's a bad-quality garment – the cases of the Olsen twins and Victora Beckham taught us a great lesson. I actually think that quality is a good measure to see who will go on and who, on the contrary, will be just a memory of a short experience as fashion designer.