Designer sales are increasing due to increased screen time and pop promo looks by Beyonce, BTS, and other stars.
Fashion shows were halted due to international Covid restrictions. The catwalk has now moved to music videos.
Drake’s clothing collaboration with Nike was released last week. Key items from the Certified Lovers Boy collection were shown off in Drake’s LaughNow Cry Later video.
Jeff Carvalho co-founder of Highsnobiety streetwear website, says “Music videos is the new runway.”
Carvalho says that the influence of pop promos on the catwalk is not new. He cites Run-DMC’s chunky chains and Nirvana’s plaid shirts. However, this has changed in 2020.
It’s now less subversive than before. It was a statement about the style R&B or hip-hop artists wanted to display in music videos of the 90s. It is now brand alignment. All brands want to align themselves with music and celebrity acts.
Music videos also fill this void. Katherine Bailey, Edited’s retail analyst, says that music videos have recreated the feeling of escapism associated fashion week. “[They] have repurposed key components, including theatre and production status, celebrity status, and aspirational clothes.” This is another factor that people are more inclined to look for new things as they stay home.
“With 2020 being spent mostly indoors, screen-time has become the only thing that connects us to the outside,” Morgane Le Caer (data editor at Lyst) says.
The most popular clothing items from the year’s top pop videos have been in high demand online. They have an average viewing figure of hundreds of millions. The number of searches for snake print, leopard, and tiger increased by 201% after Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s WAP music videos premiere.
Similar results were seen after Harry Styles’s Watermelon Sugar video was streamed. Searches for the semi-sheer, floral, semi-sheer Bode shirt that he wears increased by 31%. The video for Dynamite from BTS was directly related to an increase in searches in Google for bucket caps. Lyst reports that this is 128%. Lyst reports that 128% of fans want products that reflect the personal style of their favorite artists.
It can also make a difference for individual labels. When Beyonce and her dancers wore Marine Serre’s crescent moon bodysuit in Black Is King, searches for Serre increased by 51%. The designer told the Guardian Beyonce’s film was “amazing, and the dancing was amazing … it fits with the message I want to spread.”
Fashion designers have a wide appeal, and the medium is very appealing. Nicola Formichetti, a fashion designer who worked closely with Lady Gaga on several of her music videos including Bad Romance, Rain on Me and the recent Rain on Me says that a music video gives the fashion a story. To me, it is more interesting and effective to show the fashion through a story. It’s almost like watching a short movie rather than a catwalk.