Nowadays, it’s difficult to find someone that’s not on social media. To put this into context, a recent report by Hootsuite has found that there are almost 3.5 billion active social media users in 2019. That’s about half of the world’s entire population. Sounds insane, right?
Now imagine someone tapping into the social media market and building a distinct brand in a specific niche and using their knowledge and positioning to affect their audience’s ability to consume. Sounds even more insane? Not really. That’s just influencer marketing. Influencer marketing literally covers anything and everything. From bookstagram to instapoetry, as long as there’s an audience – there’s an influencer.
The biggest impact, however, depends on the industry. And fashion + influencer marketing seems like a match made in heaven. If you’re looking for fashion inspiration, we here at TheGetWell did some heavy lifting to give you some of the best fashion influencers you should be following right now. Sit back, relax, and keep scrolling!
Chiara Ferragni
If you’re crazy about fashion and you have no idea who Chiara Ferragni is, then you might not be as fashion-crazy as you think. Considered as one of the original fashion influencers, Ferragni started The Blonde Salad in 2009, a blog dedicated to Ferragni’s passion for fashion and travel. Ferragni likes to describe her style as “effortlessly cool.” In an interview with Fashionista, Ferragni says her fashion is a little bit of everything.
“I want it to be like I didn’t think too much about the look. I never think about it too much, honestly. My whole dressing-up process has to be very fast, otherwise that means it’s not a right look. I’m very fast and very decisive on what I like and what I don’t like, what fits me and what doesn’t.” – Chiara Ferragni
However, the real turning point of Ferragni’s career came in 2013 after Business of Fashion (BoF), an authoritative voice in the global fashion industry, listed Ferragni as one of the 500 personalities shaping the fashion industry. Not long after, Ferragni became the subject of Harvard Business School’s first-ever case study in 2015 about a fashion influencer. Since then, Ferragni has worked with various international brands such as Pantene, Guess, Gucci, and Mattel just to name a few. Her business ventures also expanded to the Chiara Ferragni Collection – a global footwear line.
Quick facts:
- Ferragni has 19 million followers on Instagram.
- She lives in Milan, Italy…
- …But she also has a place in Los Angeles.
- Ferragni was a former law student at Bocconi University in Milan.
- She’s married to Italian rapper and producer, Fedez.
Susanna Lau
If you could choose between working with various top-tier brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and maintaining a blog considered to be a fashion thought-leader, which one would you choose? London-based blogger, Susanna Lau, doesn’t have to choose. She’s done both.
Lau started as a fashion blogger through Style Bubble. According to Lau, her blog consists of her thoughts and personal experiences. It also puts focus on her observations about the fashion industry in general as well as a core mission to champion young and up-and-coming designers. Lau’s long list of high-profile collaborations ranges from fashion giants such as Coach, Prada, Topshop, and Louis Vuitton to top publications like Elle UK and Vogue.
Her style is often described as eclectic and out-of-the-box. But what most don’t see is the creativity and, frankly, the courage to try out new things. Lau loves to mix up different styles to make it unique and un-cliché.
Quick facts:
- Lau was born in the UK but her family comes from Hong Kong.
- When she was younger, Lau loved DIY-fashion which influenced her fashion style later on.
- Lau studied history at University College London.
Iris Apfel
Often lovingly referred to as the accidental icon, Iris Apfel is a 97-year-old fashion influencer, businesswoman, interior designer, and all-around rockstar that just doesn’t care about what you think. Apfel became a household name after the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York premiered an exhibition about her entitled Rara Avis: The Irreverent Iris Apfel. The exhibition featured an exclusive collection by Apfel that champions mixing high and low fashions. Her distinct style also combines colors, textures, and patterns without convention which effortlessly highlights her truly eclectic and non-conventional style.
An article by The House That Lars Built perfectly describes Iris Apfel’s sense of style. “If we could bottle up the magic of fashion icon Iris Apfel’s attitude towards life and style, we are sure it would be 3 parts wit, 2 parts color, and 1 part something we could never expect. Making her recipe for life something close to impossible to replicate.”
At the age of 97, Apfel was signed by global modeling agency, IMG.
Quick facts:
- Apfel is a New Yorker through and through. She was born in Astoria, Queens, New York.
- Apfel’s father owned a glass-and-mirror business while her mother owned a fashion boutique.
- She studied art history at NYU and attended art school at the University of Wisconsin.
Kevin Ma
Few people could say that their claim to fame is based on a worldwide movement. To anyone else, Kevin Ma might not be a name you’re familiar with, but for the thousands, if not millions, of loyalists to the streetwear movement, the name Kevin Ma will forever be etched in history.
Founded in 2005, Hypebeast was Kevin Ma’s brainchild. Initially, the blog’s main focus was to cover sneaker culture. As a self-confessed sneakerhead, Ma says the inspiration to start the blog was to talk about sneakers. However, Ma admits that it was inevitable to just cover sneakers. In an interview for Fast Company, Ma says he eventually started talking about other relevant industries to sneakers like hip-hop, streetwear, and skateboarding.
Nowadays, Hypebeast’s content ranges from fashion and streetwear to entertainment and street culture and is seen as a leading online destination for men’s contemporary fashion and streetwear.
Quick facts:
- Ma is based in Hong Kong.
- He studied business and psychology at the University of British Columbia in the early 2000s.
- Kevin Ma has about 50k followers on Instagram while Hypebeast has 8.1m.
