From the Runway to Viral Buzz: Tracing the New Path of Fashion Influence

The media nature of fashion is no longer decided only on the catwalks, not even in the front row of fashion shows or in the photographs of the most expensive campaigns of the year. One only has to look back at the most striking movements of the last twelve months to identify the new levers of growth that, fortunately or unfortunately, have little or nothing to do with the ideas simmering in the atelier. The engagement announcement of music superstar Taylor Swift and NFL athlete Travis Kelce, the Venetian wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez or the latest edition of the Wimbledon Wimbledon tournament are just a few examples of the new growth levers that, fortunately or unfortunately, have little or nothing to do with the ideas simmering in the atelier.Wimbledon tournament have become as decisive showcases as a fashion week for brands such as Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, Rolex or Louis Vuitton, according to the new power map drawn by major events.

Swift’s engagement post, published at the end of August, condenses well this twist. The snapshot, in a bucolic garden perfectly decorated for the occasion, wearing a black and white striped silk midi dress by Polo Ralph Lauren and an old mine diamond ring designed with Artifex Fine Jewelry, reads: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”. Or in other words: a nod to the artist’s avid fans, who number more than 281 million followers on Instagram alone.

The dress, then discounted to just over $300, sold out in a matter of minutes on Ralph Lauren’s website and on platforms such as Revolve. The post has nearly 38 million likes and has broken into the top twenty most popular photos in the history of the social network, still far from Messi lifting the World Cup, but more than enough to turn over the inventory of several brands in a single day. While the photos were making their way around the world, Kelce was expanding its own perimeter of influence with fashion. American Eagle launched AE x Tru Kolors by Travis Kelce, a collection of more than ninety references developed with the player’s brand. The engagement announcement and capsule came almost in a chain, making the pair a cross-platform for luxury, lifestyle and sportswear.

For a brand, these cases already draw a recognizable path. First, a vital moment that the couple controls and that works as its own content; then, a clear aesthetic, easy to translate into product and, in parallel, a commercial partner with amplification capacity. The result goes beyond notoriety and the event becomes a complete funnel, from the photo to the shopping cart.

The focus of media attraction jumps from fashion shows to viral moments on social networks

The industry has been talking about cultural relevance for years, but the order of priorities has shifted. The moment that focuses attention is no longer necessarily the fashion show, but the event that goes viral: a high-profile wedding, a sports final, a festival or a timely retailer-celebrity collaboration. For brands, this means redistributing the investment map: it is not enough to secure a good spot in Paris or Milan, but to be in the few places, physical and digital, where people are really looking.

That new map has been quantified in the Year in Review 2025 report by Launchmetrics, which radiographs the year through its proprietary metric, a media impact indicator that assigns an economic value to each media and network impact for fashion, beauty and lifestyle. The exercise aims to sort out which moments, people and platforms are concentrating the global conversation in the sector today.

In this ranking, one of the biggest surprises is the wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, held in Venice between June 26th and 28th. The wedding generated $222 million in media impact for the brands involved, around 60% more than the last edition of New York Fashion Week measured over the same period.

Italian brand Dolce & Gabbana was the big beneficiary. Sanchez’s wedding dress, with a 1950s-inspired silhouette, brought in $14.5 million in media impact, 28% more than the brand’s Fall 2025 runway show. Schiaparelli added 4 million with one of the bridal looks and Versace reached 2.8 million. Next came Oscar de la Renta, with 2.7 million, Alexander McQueen and Dior, with 1.6 million each. A weekend of celebration turned Venice into a red carpet more effective than many official calendars.

Jeff Bezos’ wedding and the Met Gala 2025 lead the year’s most important moments for brands

On the more institutional red carpet, the Met Gala 2025 continues to be the big impact concentrator, with $1.3 billion generated under the theme Superfine: Tailoring Black Style and with Louis Vuitton, the show’s sponsor, as the dominant brand of the evening. The Cannes Film Festival reached 1.1 billion and Venice 303 million, with Armani, Versace, Dior and Bottega Veneta capitalizing on the cinematic showcase and using the red carpet as a prelude to creative changes and brand repositioning.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement announcement post has been the most viral of the year, with the consequent impact on the brands in the photo.

When analyzed by category, the redistribution of power is pretty neat. Weddings and red carpets are, above all, the territory of jewelry and party fashion; sport favors watchmaking, sportswear and brands that aspire to a performance narrative; while festivals have become a battleground for labels that live off the community and crossover with music.

In tennis, the figures are just as eloquent. The British Wimbledon competition, the quintessential stage for the color white, achieved $1.1 billion in impact, up 23% on the previous year, with Italy’s Jannik Sinner as the main vector. Rolex generated $4.7 million linked to the tennis player and Nike, $4.4 million. The post of the trophy on Instagram was the content with the highest impact of the tournament. Meanwhile, Ralph Lauren, supplier of the official dress code, captured 22.5 million dollars and increased its year-on-year impact by 20%. Kate Middleton’s presence added an additional $36 million, with her Self-Portrait look valued at just over $900,000.

In parallel, the US Open closed the season with $809 million in MIV, up 51% year-on-year. Nike dressed the four individual finalists and topped the brand ranking with $9.4 million, while Rolex added $7.1 million, 162% more than in 2024. The most profitable gesture was that of Carlos Alcaraz lifting the trophy with a Cosmograph Daytona on his wrist, which brought in $4.7 million in a single impact.

Wimbledon and the Super Bowl topped the results in the sports tournaments segment

In the U.S., the Super Bowl matched Wimbledon’s figure with $1.1 billion in media impact. Kendrick Lamar grabbed around 30% of the coverage, with high visibility for Celine, Nike and Martine Rose. Taylor Swift added more than $100 million associated with looks by Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Alaïa, and the likes of Travis Kelce and Serena Williams rounded out the exposure cast. The Coachella music festival, meanwhile, generated $908 million and is already the most competitive festival for brands: it concentrates several dozen times more activations than other events and multiplies the number of ambassadors compared to European rivals.

Beyond the big moments on the agenda, the study introduces a key nuance with the role of retail. Trade partners generated more than $1.1 billion in IVM for brands in the first half of 2025 alone. Department stores, perfume chains and digital platforms thus function as voices with audiences of their own, beyond their role as retail outlets. Their weight in the share of influence approaches that of a media outlet or ambassador.

The marketing analysis also points out the hidden cost of inefficiency: almost half of the samples, 49.8%, never leave the showroom, despite the fact that each shipment generates an average impact of $13,000 and the cost of the sample is usually two or three times that of the final garment. The average time to return is 16 days, which limits the possible rotations to one month. At the same time, the study on ambassadors shows that 34% of companies invest more than $500,000 a year in these programs, but six out of ten admit that they have difficulty measuring the return and almost three quarters still use engagement metrics that are considered outdated.

While catwalks still command the calendar, they no longer monopolize influence. Today, they compete with engagement posts, billionaires’ weddings, sports finals, festivals and retail partners that behave like the media. The question therefore revolves around which few moments, scenarios and alliances concentrate the budget.