Who Won Fashion Month SS27 on Social Media?
With less spectacle and fewer surprise celebrity cameos, this season’s front rows took a more traditional turn.
Reported by Vogue.
The numbers from SS27 are in, and they're staggering. According to Vogue, fashion month generated $1.24 billion in earned media value (EMV) — a 64% jump from FW26's $755 million — signaling that the industry's appetite for social-first spectacle is nowhere near peaked. Paris, as ever, commanded the lion's share: $795.6 million, or 64% of the season's total. Milan trailed with $311.4 million, New York contributed $107 million, and London — buoyed by Alexander McQueen's return to the schedule for the first time since 2022 — clocked $27.3 million, a 6.2% year-on-year improvement.
The platform breakdown tells its own story. On TikTok, #FashionWeek cracked a billion views; Prada alone pulled 147 million views under #PradaSS27 from fewer than 2,000 posts. On Weibo, Paris Fashion Week generated $328.6 million in EMV — more than three times Milan's figure — with brands, not celebrities, dominating the platform's top Hot Topics. On Instagram, Dior reigned supreme with $360 million in EMV, a 309% year-on-year surge, driven in large part by Thai actress Kornnaphat Sethratanapong, whose 20 posts alone accounted for $112 million. Schiaparelli saw the season's most explosive growth at 974%, also powered by Thai talent. And then there was Matières Fécales, which grew EMV by 795% after a surprise Rihanna appearance — because of course.
The Thai takeover (and the quieter counter-move)
The defining story of SS27 wasn't a single show or a viral moment — it was the complete displacement of K-pop by Thai drama stars. All five top Instagram spots in Paris went to Thai talent, who collectively generated $412.2 million in EMV — more than the entire Paris FW26 season. "Thai drama stars completely took over K-pop stars in our rankings," says Anna Ross, VP of insights at Karla Otto, noting that these actors routinely published 20 to 30 posts per fashion week, backed by deeply engaged fan communities. Their influence radiated outward, too: Sethratanapong's makeup artist ranked eighth in Paris by EMV at $12.4 million. Meanwhile, in New York, Tommy Hilfiger topped the ranking at $36 million in EMV, anchoring its front row around established brand figures — Gigi Hadid, Kate Moss, Jisoo — while sneaking in rising pop act Slayyyter for a finale performance. CMO Virginia Ritchie called it "the magic in that mix."
Not every brand went big. Acne Studios seated ceramic artist Takuro Kuwata and photographer Peter Schlesinger alongside Kim Gordon. Valentino asked guests to bring a book to swap. Chanel put Nigerian creator Rachel Ojuromi — who'd gone quietly viral recreating Matthieu Blazy's looks on the streets of Lagos — directly on the runway. These weren't stunts; they were considered bets on cultural specificity over mass reach. Streamers also staked real territory: Twitch's Kai Cenat brought his label Vivet to NYFW (ranked eighth by EMV), and Swedish creator Marlon Lundgren Garcia was London's top-performing talent across Burberry and H&M combined.
Fashion month has always been a power game, but SS27 made clear that the scoreboard is more complicated than follower counts — the brands winning aren't just chasing virality, they're engineering it through relationships, community, and knowing exactly who their audience is before the first look hits the runway.
Read the original at Vogue.
