The Paris women’s ready-to-wear fashion week has once again confirmed it is the world’s top fashion event, attracting the attention of a globalised viewing audience. The media impact of the Spring/Summer 2024 runway shows which took place in Paris from September 25 to October 3 grew by 30% on an annual basis, according to the latest report by marketing analytics specialist Launchmetrics. The French capital’s fashion shows were the most followed worldwide, with nearly 160,000 looks downloaded – a 64% increase year-on-year – well ahead of Milan with 100,000, New York with less than 80,000, and London with just over 40,000.

Paris Fashion Week’s media impact value (MIV) rose from $384.4 million in September 2022 to $499 million in September this year. “Paris’s dominance is explained by the fact that the official calendar features all the top fashion and luxury names, as well as by the strong international presence of most leading labels. Paris Fashion Week has become a genuine cultural event,” said Pascal Morand, executive president of the French Fashion and Haute Couture Federation, who was invited to analyse the events’ audience figures at an online conference.

Paris’s exponential growth was notably driven by the booming influence of social media, which continued to gain ground compared to traditional web channels. Instagram grabbed the lion’s share of Paris Fashion Week’s MIV with $269.1 million, equivalent to 53.9% of the MIV generated by digital media. Instagram’s share was three times higher than that of traditional web channels, whose 17.5% MIV share nevertheless made them the second most important channel during the event.

TikTok made a remarkable breakthrough, its MIV growing by a whopping 172% on an annual basis. “We have entered a new era, one in which social media drives instant experience, while the printed press plays a different role, being more highly regarded for content quality and credibility,” said Morand.

Another finding was the growing influence of labels’ social media channels, whose average MIV for Spring/Summer 2024 increased by 32%. “Labels have become more professional, they are increasingly focused on their own social media channels, and are becoming more and more effective in their posts and content,” said some of the online conference’s participants.

Fashion labels are also increasingly targeting celebrities, who enable them to tap the media hype they can generate, as well as the visibility they give to labels on their own social media. At the latest Paris Fashion Week, the MIV of celebrities soared, growing by 93%, from $32.9 million to $63.6 million on an annual basis.

The share of MIV generated by the various social media channels has changed, with celebrities posting a notable increase and accounting for 12.8% of MIV at the latest Paris womenswear week (compared to 8.6% last year). The celebrities’ MIV share was close behind the share of the labels’ own social media (which dropped to 13% from 13.6% a year ago) and that of influencers, which nevertheless fell significantly (14.1% this year, versus 18.9% in September 2022). The labels’ other media partners accounted for 3.1% of MIV compared to 3.5% a year earlier, while traditional media still snapped up the largest share with 57% of MIV, higher than the 55.5% recorded last year.

Finally, from a regional point of view, the appeal of Paris Fashion Week seems to know no boundaries. Asia-Pacific stood out, its celebrities generating 203% more MIV at the last edition compared to European celebrities. “India in particular is becoming the epicentre of luxury fashion, and this transformation is driving exponential growth in the country, whose MIV grew by 225% compared to the Spring/Summer 2023 season,” noted Launchmetrics, which also highlighted Japan’s strong performance (its MIV grew by 173%) and Thailand’s, “which ranked 3rd in terms of MIV growth in the Asia-Pacific region and, surprisingly, was 1st worldwide in terms of MIV generated by celebrities.”

Christian Dior topped Launchmetrics’s ranking of the 20 most popular labels at the latest edition of Paris Fashion Week, with a MIV of $59.5 million, 71% higher than that recorded in last year’s summer session. The LVMH group’s star label notably tapped the buzz generated by Thai celebrities like Nattawin Wattanagitiphat and Phakphum Romsaithong.

Dior was followed by the other powerhouse of Bernard Arnault’s luxury group, Louis Vuitton, which climbed from 4th to 2nd place with a MIV of $38.2 million (up by 74%), driven by South Korea’s K-Pop stars, and by Miu Miu, which reached the ranking’s podium for the first time, with a MIV of $24.7 million, up by 45%.