Fashion Week shows in Paris and Milan got people talking

Comparing the Big Four, the Paris Fashion Weeks (Paris Men Fashion Week, Paris Haute Couture, and Paris Women Fashion Week) received the highest volume of mentions, followed by the shows in Milan.

One factor for the higher mention volume is that while London and New York run menswear and womenswear shows together, the Milan and Paris fashion weeks are split into separate fashion week shows. Paris also has an additional show focused only on haute couture.

But that is only part of the story. 

Another key element to the high volume of mentions around the Paris and Milan shows was the guest list: K-pop stars dominated the front rows.

K-pop stars love fashion brands and fashion brands love K-pop stars

It's no secret that K-pop groups have become extremely popular in recent years, with BTS being the most famous of them all.

They are the most followed music group on the biggest social networks such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and the music video for their song "Butter" broke the record for the most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours. And the records continue. You can read up on BTS stats here.

Brands are always on the lookout for interesting brand ambassadors and it’s hard not to notice the explosive popularity of K-pop bands.

This Fashion Week season is no different, and the most talked about celebrities attending the major fashion week shows are dominated by K-pop stars.

Except for rapper Doja Cat in tenth place, all of the celebrities listed in our top 10 ranking are K-pop stars. Jeno, part of the Korean boy group NCT, has been busy this fashion week season, attending both the New York and Milan Fashion Weeks.

Fans were quick to comment on social media, happy to see their artist being recognized by famous designers and fashion brands.

Red is everywhere this Fashion Week season 

Fashion Week is all about eye-catching moments and getting people talking. And the color red was definitely a way to do that this season.

From models wearing vermillion designer gowns on the runway to cherry-dressed celebrities grabbing the attention of photographers, there was no escaping the color red.

And Doja Cat took wearing red to a whole new level. The Say So-rapper was the only non-K-pop celebrity in the otherwise K-pop-dominated top 10 most mentioned celebrities.

At Schiaparelli's Paris Haute Couture show, she was covered head-to-toe in red, wearing a red dress and her skin covered in 30,000 meticulously placed red Swarovski crystals.

Usher chose a more subtle way to incorporate red when he attended the Wales Bonner show at Paris Men's Fashion Week.

The singer appeared with orange-red dyed hair, just one of many outfits he wore during the fashion week. When asked about his outfits, Usher said: "It was a performance for me to show up in my wardrobe.“

Using our image analysis tool, we can see that 46% of the images posted around the Fashion Weeks contain the color red show dresses and 32% show red shoes.

Red shoes?

Didn't we just talk about that in the intro?

Yes, but these are much wilder than the Sun King’s pair.

During New York Fashion Week, celebrities and influencers were spotted wearing red rubber boots shaped like the boots of the anime character Astro Boy.

The art collective behind the Astro Boy-inspired boots, MSCHF, used Fashion Week to promote their boots ahead of their February 16 release date.

And with great success, we might add. The big red boots went viral and sold out in minutes.

After the conversation peaks during Fashion Week, online conversations slowed down, but picked up in early March when it was announced that there would be an NFT version of the famous Astro Boy boots.

In the online conversations, people had a lot to say ranging from general wonderment about other people's tastes to questions about how to wear them fashionably. Here is one Twitter user’s take on it.

Schiaparelli's Dante Inferno show ignited a social blaze 

The most talked about show at the Paris Haute Couture show was Schiaparelli's. The fashion brand, inspired by Dante's Inferno, presented dresses with animal hands made of faux fur.

One of the celebrities in attendance was Kylie Jenner, who also wore a Schiaparelli dress with a giant lion head.

The moment Kylie appeared in her lion head dress watching model Irina Shayk walk down the catwalk in the same lion head dress quickly went viral.

In terms of attention, the show was a huge success for Schiaparelli, with global search interest for the brand hitting a five-year high during Haute Couture week, according to Google Trends. 

The sentiment of online conversations indicates that the show was controversial. Schiaparelli received the highest percentage of negative online mentions of any fashion brand at the Haute Couture show.

In fact, 32% of all online mentions were negative.

The people behind the negative comments weren’t fans of the animal heads. Despite the faux fur, they criticized the dresses for glorifying trophy hunting. PETA, on the other hand, praised Schiaparelli's innovative approach to cruelty-free design. 

Dior's ambassadors received lots of online mentions 

Dior was by far the most talked about fashion brand during the Fashion Weeks.

The brand's clever ambassador strategy ensured that the brand was talked about far and wide, and with high-profile K-pop stars Jimin of BTS and Jisoo of Blackpink, it's no wonder that the luxury brand managed to take the spot at the top of the rankings.

Another Blackpink singer, Rose, is now an ambassador for Yves Saint Laurent and her appearance at Paris Women's Fashion Week created a lot of buzz, too.

All of the fashion brands in the top 10 collaborated with K-pop stars. As we've seen above, NCT's Jeno was a big deal at the Ferragamo show. Valentino can boast with BTS member Suga, and Prada welcomed Korean boy band Enhypen to their Milan Men Fashion Week show. 

K-pop stars seem to be the way to go, and we're likely to see many more collaborations between them and major fashion brands throughout the year.

However, actors and influencers still play a big role on the red carpet list. Robert Pattinson, for example, attended the Dior show in a skirt, which was very trendy.