6 Upcoming TV Shows Fashion Needs to Know About
Fashion brands have been cashing in on the cultural currency of series like Off Campus, Heated Rivalry, and The Summer I Turned Pretty. What are the next hotbeds of TV talent and how should brands get involved?
Reported by Vogue.
Rom-drams are having a moment — and fashion is paying very close attention. The genre, which spans hockey-jock saga Off Campus on Amazon Prime Video, the enemies-to-lovers phenomenon Heated Rivalry, and Netflix's Bridgerton (which pulled nearly 40 million views in its February debut), has quietly become one of the most commercially potent forces in culture right now. According to Vogue, what links these series isn't just steamy plotlines and beautiful casts — it's a collective hunger for escapism that fashion brands are increasingly eager to monetize.
Why now? "Mainstream culture has become palpably more sensual in the last few years," says Serena Smith, deputy editor of Dazed. Holly Beddingfield, editor of youth platform Capsule, frames it more bluntly: heavy news cycles and ambient doomerism have made audiences desperate for TV that delivers emotional payoff without demanding much in return. Weekly episode drops are amplifying that pull, recreating the appointment-viewing energy of network TV — cliffhangers, dramatic turns, and all. Throw in early-aughts nostalgia and collegiate aesthetics that feel like fantasy precisely because most young people can't actually live that way, and you have the perfect cultural storm.
Fashion's Play
The industry has already moved fast. Coach collaborated with The Summer I Turned Pretty on a collegiate-inspired capsule. After Heated Rivalry broke through, DSquared2 cast star Hudson Williams in its alpine runway show — and its website crashed during the livestream. Saint Laurent put Connor Storrie front row at its Fall/Winter 2026 show, then dressed him for the Met Gala, where he generated $14 million in media impact value, per Launchmetrics. American Eagle has already dropped a limited-edition Off Campus merch line. The logic is straightforward, as Beddingfield puts it: signing an actor from one of these series doesn't just buy cultural cachet — it buys the entire fandom standing behind them.
The smartest plays involve talent over character. Williams is significantly more stylish than his on-screen alter ego Shane Hollander, which is exactly the point. "The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn't exactly scream Saint Laurent," notes writer and cultural strategist Juno Kelly, "but Christopher Briney attended. Brands are so keen to tap Gen Z that they'll do what they have to." On the horizon: Every Year After (a Carley Fortune adaptation ripe for Ralph Lauren or J.Crew alignment), Netflix's Twisted — a seven-figure acquisition of Ana Huang's billionaire-and-trust-fund series that's practically gift-wrapped for luxury brands — and Rivals, whose retro, Naomi Campbell-off-duty sensibility is an open invitation for anyone willing to lean into color-blocking and power shoulders.
The risk of entering viral TV culture as a luxury brand is real, but as the numbers make clear, so is the upside — and the window for getting in early is closing fast.
Read the original at Vogue.
