The Biggest Fashion Moments in the First Half of 2024
Unique trends, high-profile events and a slew of memorable fashion moments marked the first half of 2024. Yielding valuable insights into the future of the industry, fashion moved at breakneck speed, delivering buzzworthy campaigns, enticing runways and unexpected trends.
Stars from the Asia Pacific region continued their fashion reign. We saw them flaunting their style adroitness at the season’s biggest events, including global Fashion Weeks, the Met Gala, the Cannes Film Festival and any high-profile gathering worth talking about.
Meanwhile, brands expanded their horizons by taking their resort collections to international destinations around the world and tapping into the power of K-pop for their runways. In parallel, the world witnessed the rise of microtrends like the mob wife aesthetic and tenniscore. But that was just the surface.
As we look forward to the second half of this eventful year, EnVi recaps some of the fashion moments that shaped fashion in the first half of 2024.
Fall Winter 2024 Fashion Month
The annual Fall Winter fashion season, unfolding between January and February, kicked off 2024 with gusto. Emerging trends from recent years were thrust into the spotlight: Asian Pacific (APAC) celebrities dominated coverage of Fashion Week events while runways were overtaken by corporate-inspired attire, coquette-approved bows and pieces inspired by decades past.
Each Fashion Week location drove high Media Impact Value (MIV®) for brands, with Instagram as the primary platform for engaging with event content. At Women’s Paris Fashion Week, Filipino stars Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach and Heart Evangelista scored the highest MIV® as celebrity voices: $6.8 million and $3.5 million, respectively.
Felix’s Took Over Paris
According to Launchmetrics’ Chief Executive Officer, Michael Jaïs, South Korea delivered serious numbers at Paris Fashion Week and beyond. Within the past five years, the number of partnerships — ambassadorships and otherwise — between South Korean celebrities and the world’s major brands has increased drastically. Perhaps the most notable example of brands effectively leveraging their partnerships with artists happened when Stray Kids‘ Felix Lee, made his runway debut with Louis Vuitton in celebration of creative director Nicolas Ghesquière’s 10th anniversary at the brand. Felix’s appearance generated approximately 25% of Louis Vuitton’s total event coverage — $9.1 million out of the whopping $36.3 million in MIV®.
Athletes Reigned in London
Milan, London and New York Fashion Weeks were no different. An array of celebrities from across fields took over social media conversations. In Milan, corporatecore and office siren styling made a tangible impact.
Meanwhile, in London, professional athletes received attention with front-row placements and brand partnerships. Examples include South Korean football player Son Heung-min, British football player David Beckham and Norwegian football player Martin Ødegaard.
New York Shed a Spotlight on Latin American Stars
New York Fashion Week saw Tommy Hilfiger’s highly-anticipated runway comeback and the growing presence of South and Latin American stars. From the Grand Central Station backdrop to its American color palette, the show celebrated the essence of New York City.
Mexican-American singer Becky G earned the night’s top placement with $767K in MIV® and $1.4M in overall MIV®. APAC stars continued to populate top earning spots for NYFW — K-pop singer Seulgi and Kazakh actress Zarina Yeva were the second and third highest-placing celebrities.
Met Gala
Each year, the Met Gala grows in magnitude. Since its first installment as a December 1948 dinner, the event has been christened the biggest night in American fashion. More importantly, however, the Met Gala has become the driving source of support for the Costume Institute. The institute presents fashion as a discipline in addition to an art form, providing insight into the history and theory of fashion and costuming.
The 2024 Met Gala theme was “The Garden of Time,” inspired by J.G. Ballard’s short story of the same title. As usual, the event acted as a fundraising opportunity for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and its spring exhibit, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
The Buzziest Pop Culture Conversations
As Alison Bringé, Launchmetrics’ Chief Marketing Officer, shared with EnVi, the Met Gala’s red carpet presented “the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the buzziest pop-culture conversations of the moment to drive unprecedented brand buzz.” Co-chair Zendaya, for example, sparked conversations with multiple outfit changes, created in collaboration with her long-time stylist Law Roach. Her blue and green Maison Margiela gown and maroon eyeshadow put an eerie spin on nature-inspired colors, generating media coverage worth $26.8 million in MIV®. On the other hand, her Givenchy black look racked up conversations valued at $13.6 million in MIV®.
Other celebrities navigated the theme with outfits primarily inspired by nature and time and employing motifs reminiscent of air, land and sea across their accessories, makeup and clothing pieces. Stars such as Jennie Kim, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter drew inspiration from the sea, re-interpreting everything from waves to pearls. South African singer Tyla went viral for her custom Balmain gown, inspired by the passage of time and created with actual sand. British-Indian actress Alia Bhatt, actress Cynthia Erivo and Indigenous activist Quannah Chasinghorse took a floral direction, with flower appliques and embroidery decorating their respective looks.
The Kings of the Night
While the 2024 Met Gala delivered notable moments aplenty, the attention heavily focused on fashion’s up-and-coming darlings Stray Kids. The K-pop octet — Bang Chan, Han, Felix, Seungmin, Hyunjin, I.N, Lee Know and Changbin — made history as the first-ever K-pop group invited to the coveted event. Outfitted by American clothing brand Tommy Hilfiger, the South Korean act emerged as the top celebrity voice, garnering direct $4.8 million in MIV® (sans echo conversations).
“Due to their strong digital footprint and willingness to engage, K-pop stars are perfect ambassadors for amplifying branded strategies through relevant hashtags and valuable social placements,” Bringé told EnVi. “For example, Stray Kids were not only able to garner media buzz around their attendance. They were also able to generate significant contributions to Tommy Hilfiger’s performance through their owned social media content, placing them as the top celebrity Voice by Media Impact Value for the event overall.”
Cruise Shows
Tucked neatly into the period where spring leads into summer are a series of events known as Cruise shows. These between-seasons collections curate creative, often wearable and vacation-ready pieces that fall outside the bounds of Spring Summer and Fall Winter showings. Recently, luxury labels have embraced destination shows that present their brand in a new light — Louis Vuitton, Jacquemus and Dior were a few of the names making a splash with their international runways.
Louis Vuitton’s Cruise 2025 collection was an homage to Barcelona, where the presentation took place. The show honored Spanish culture and renowned architect Antoni Gaudí. Friend of Louis Vuitton Felix Lee once again took the internet by storm with his Regencycore attire — one week after the release of Bridgerton’s third season, the K-pop idol brought the show’s styling notes to the LV front row.
Jacquemus took to Capri for a midday outdoor showing, where Jennie Kim made her runway debut. Chanel presented in Marseille. Dior touched down in Scotland. And Gucci took its Cruise 2025 to London as a show of gratitude for the city. Each new location yielded a thematic collection meant to accompany buyers on their summer journeys and beyond.
Cannes Film Festival
Celebrating the world’s cinematic achievements and introducing new productions to the international market, the Cannes Film Festival is one of the most awaited events in entertainment and fashion. As per Launchmetrics, this year’s edition garnered a total of $941.3 million in MIV®.
India Takes the Forefront
Accumulating a total of $199 million in MIV®, India ranked as the top country for the Celebrity Voice globally — celebrities drove 11% of India’s MIV® at the event. Given the relatively recent rise of Indian performers in the global fashion and beauty industries, it’s no surprise that India dominated at Cannes. Since the turn of the decade, renowned labels have dedicated newfound efforts to connecting with audiences across the APAC region — brands have appointed international ambassadors with loyal fan followings to elevate their status.
The 2024 Festival de Cannes further proved the general potential of Asian Pacific celebrities to not only succeed on, but completely dominate, global stages. Filipino model and actress Pia Wurtzbach was the leading Celebrity Voice at the film festival, generating a total of $8.1 million in MIV®. The subsequent three spots were occupied by three of India’s biggest female actresses. Urvashi Rautela, Preity G Zinta and Avneet Kaur were responsible for $7.9, $4.2 and $4.1 million in MIV®, respectively.
The Asia Pacific Designers Boom
Each year, the Cannes Film Festival provides a platform for established and up-and-coming designers from around the world — many have the chance to showcase their work on finely curated red carpet and photo-call looks. Among the dazzling outfits presented at Cannes, many pieces by APAC designers garnered significant attention. Launchmetrics shares with EnVi that labels such as China-based Cheney Chan, known for the “Feng Ya Qi” silhouette, clocked $1.6M in MIV®. The brand was behind the structural designs sported by Norwegian-Somali model Rawdah Mohamed as well as the calla lily-inspired gown that Coco Rocha took to the premiere of The Most Precious Of Cargoes.
Jewelry brands Tasaki (Japan) and Hanut Singh (India) got their own major moment in the spotlight, generating $791K and $587K in MIV®, respectively. The brands adorned the likes of Meryl Streep, Kelly Rowland and Coco Rocha. Filipino designer Harvey Cenit ($49K in MIV®) and Vietnamese creative Le Thanh Hoa ($39K in MIV®) were also honorable mentions at the event.
Thailand and Turkey Coming Up Next
Along with Indian and Filipino stars, Turkish and Thai voices are shaping to become the next red-carpet sensations at Cannes. As Launchmetrics shares with EnVi, Turkish actors Meryem Uzerli and Hande Erçel, as well as singer Hadise, emerged as the top Turkish Celebrity Voices. Meryem, who attended events such as the Trophée Chopard, the Megalopolis premiere and the festival’s opening ceremony, accrued a total of $1.1 million in MIV®. Meanwhile, Hadise garnered $514K in MIV® with her appearance on The Apprentice red carpet.
Turkish screen queen Hande Erçel, who made her first montée de marches at the premier of Megalopolis and attended the 30th annual amfAR gala, accrued a total of $830K in MIV® via all the placements shared on her official social media channels.
Thai actor Araya Alberta Hargate and businesswoman Nichapat Suphap emerged as the top Thai celebrity and influencer voices, respectively. Ayara — who attended the premiere of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Megalopolis — accrued $1.1 million in MIV® across all placements while Nichapat garnered a total of $219K in MIV®.
Although not part of the top celebrity voice ranking, other relevant Thai names at the festival were actress Freen Sarocha and Rebecca “Becky” Patricia Armstrong. Both stars generated considerable social media buzz with their attendance at events such as the Oh Canada and Emilia Perez red carpets and Variety’s “Women in Cinema” celebration. Notably, Becky was featured in Chopard’s top placement, a social media video posted on Vogue Arabia’s Instagram, which amassed $862K in MIV®.
The Rise of High Jewelry
While Asian stars have successfully enjoyed fashion stardom over the last couple of years, until 2023, the world of high jewelry was reserved for a few selected ones. In the first half of 2024, however, this luxury segment has witnessed a visible shift toward the Asia Pacific region. For this purpose, brands have enlisted some of the biggest Asian names as brand ambassadors and their most exclusive collections’ campaign stars.
Tapping into their media-savvy images for global exposure, the world’s biggest high jewelry brands have joined efforts with Asian celebrities across the region. Indian actress Deepika Padukone, for example, fronted Cartier’s latest high jewelry campaign. TWICE’s Momo was selected as the face of the Japanese high jeweler Tasaki, while Filipina beauty queen Pia Wurtzbach was named Bulgari’s global brand ambassador. Elsewhere, Turkish fashionista Hande Erçel joined the Italian jewelry Maison Pomellato as a House Friend.
Thailand Takes the Spotlight
However, the emerging faces of high jewelry in Asia are Thai stars. Flauting coveted associations, these celebrities have become growing presences in the high jewelry and watchmaking industry. In the past six months, important names have secured partnerships with famed jewelers including Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Piaget, to name a few.
For instance, fashion trailblazer and power player Win Metawin was appointed Tiffany & Co.’s House Ambassador in February. The announcement sealed a friendship that started last year when Win attended the brand’s landmark store reopening in New York. Since joining the Tiffany & Co. family, Win has attended brand events, including the launch of the flagship store at Siam Paragon in Thailand and the opening of the “Tiffany Wonder” exhibition in Tokyo.
Likewise, European jeweler and watchmaker Piaget tapped actor Apo Nattawin as an ambassador, alongside South Korean star Junho Lee and British model Ella Richards. Apo has since channeled elegance, sporting pieces from the Swiss luxury brand, at high-profile gatherings including Watches and Wonders Geneva — the world’s premier luxury watch showcase — and Piaget’s 150th anniversary celebrations in Paris.
The Evolution of Trends
As so happens with the trend cycle, a flurry of trends rose and fell in the first half of 2024. The year kicked off with what many believed to be a PR stunt marketed to celebrate The Sopranos’ 25th anniversary — the emergence of the mob wife aesthetic. Though HBO denied any links to the TikTok viral trend, the “mob wife” look quickly took off, accompanied by images of fictional characters such as Carmela Soprano, Adriana La Cerva or even Fran Fine (The Nanny).
According to data by Launchmetrics,“mob wife” style amassed mentions worth over $35 million in MIV® in January. The numbers continued increasing in February when the mentions rose by 21% in MIV®. The trend was particularly popular among celebrities such as Khloe Kardashian ($933K), Janelle Zharmenova ($820K), Halsey ($679K) and Alix Earle ($421K). By March, however, the appeal of the mob wife started fading. Mentions decreased by 57% that month and then continued dropping by 44% on average.
Tenniscore and Regencycore
On the other hand, a tennis fever has slowly taken over fashion since late 2023. Fueled by old money aesthetics, the Australian Open and the anticipation for Luca Guadagnino’s film Challengers, starring Zendaya, the trend slowly infiltrated runways and social media, eventually seeing its heyday as the Challengers press tour unfolded. Zendaya and stylist Law Roach crafted looks so enticing that the term tenniscore immediately gained traction. “In the month of April, [the] tenniscore keyword generated over $10.8M in MIV®, marking a 460% increase in MIV® since March,” shared Launchmetrics in a trend review. “In terms of placements, tenniscore grew by 527% in April when compared to March.”
Another pivotal moment in the trend cycle arrived with the release of the uber-popular Netflix series Bridgerton. The TV show, starring Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, prompted the resurgence of the Regencycore style, which taps into the femininity of period clothing and the opulence of the Regency era — think long dresses, pastel colors and everything you could find in the Bridgerton wardrobe department. As per Launchmetrics, the Regencycore trend spiked in May, experiencing a placement increase of over 800%.
What’s Next?
Just a few weeks after the year’s halfway point, the next round of fashion events has already begun. The Wimbledon Championships, based in London, has delivered a round of tenniscore and otherwise preppy lookbook. Later in July, 2024 Summer Olympics will begin in Paris — as one of the world’s fashion capitals, expectations are high for attendee outfits. The next round of global Fashion Weeks also kicked off in June with menswear runways and is expected to continue in September with womenswear and followed by winter and year-end holiday campaigns.
*Author’s Note: Media Impact Value™ (MIV®) is an algorithm proprietary of Launchmetrics’ Machine Learning. It assigns a monetary amount to every post, interaction, and article, analyzing more than 100 quantitative and qualitative attributes specific to the fashion, luxury, and beauty industry including audience engagement, industry relevance, source authority, and content quality, to create a highly accurate method of measurement. This algorithm is not to be confused with KPIs like EMV (Earned Media Value).
Want to know more about the latest fashion news? Read about the best style serves at The Championships, Wimbledon 2024, here.
