Dive Brief:
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Content from Michael Kors' spring 2020 collection was the top performer on social media during New York Fashion Week, according to data from ListenFirst emailed to Retail Dive. The brand generated 11.4 million content responses on social media between Sept. 6 and 11. Fan growth increased 53% compared to the previous week for Michael Kors.
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Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Savage X Fenty and Tom Ford rounded out ListenFirst's top five. The ranking was based on the volume of post responses and fan growth from content posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with hashtag and handle mentions on Twitter. ListenFirst only analyzed brands on the official NYFW show schedule.
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"While using musical performances and celebrity appearances definitely can provide the wow factor in the room, having a Fashion Week event translate to social media engagement requires more of a long term strategy," Lisa D'Amico, fashion and beauty industry lead at ListenFirst, said in a statement. "Michael Kors has a year round commitment to audience building on social media, putting the brand in a position where sharing tastefully staged handbag photos could be the breakout social media content around Fashion Week."
Dive Insight:
New York Fashion Week offers plenty of moments ripe for social media content. But what's interesting here is that Kors' accessories led the way for the company's engagement during Fashion Week, instead of performances or appearances. The two most popular posts for the brand — and for any NYFW label, for that matter — featured handbags perched on summery backgrounds, generating more than 1.4 million responses on Facebook.
Meanwhile, runner-up Ralph Lauren (1.99 million engagements) hosted a jazz club-themed show complete with musical performances, and third-place Tommy Hilfiger (593,848 engagements) showed his latest collaboration with actor Zendaya on a sweeping set at the historic Apollo Theater. Lauren and Hilfiger both showed autumn 2019 collections in a see-now-buy-now format, while Kors stuck with the traditional schedule, showing spring 2020.
Runway diversity was also a notable factor in social engagement for some of the top brands. Savage X Fenty, led by singer Rihanna, featured a transgender model in her show, while Christian Siriano (#6) shared an image of plus size model Ashley Graham attending a fitting while pregnant. Kate Spade (#7) featured a 65-year-old model on its runway.
