On October 2, 2023, early in the afternoon, crowds on Avenue des Champs-Elysées (Paris) in front of the Louis Vuitton fashion show. The crowd flocks to see Zendaya in a long white dress slit in the center with an oversized zip – an outfit with offbeat glamor, emblematic of the work of Nicolas Ghesquière, designer of the brand’s women’s collections.
The scene is familiar: such excitement to see the American actress before a show had already occurred a year earlier, on October 3, 2022, when she arrived at the Carreau du Temple (Paris) in a transparent sequined bodysuit embroidered with the “V”, signature of… Valentino. At the end of 2022, Zendaya was still under contract with the Italian brand co-owned by the Qatari holding Mayhoola and the French group Kering. At the start of 2023, goodbye to Valentino, she has become a Vuitton ambassador, the flagship brand of the competing group LVMH.
Brands have always relied on celebrities to embody their products. But, historically, the choice of muses seemed above all guided by long-term stylistic affinities: Catherine Deneuve, close friend of Yves Saint Laurent, also represented the sulphurous elegance of the house; Karl Lagerfeld spotted Inès de la Fressange for her resemblance to Coco Chanel; Audrey Hepburn, friend of Hubert de Givenchy, embodied his label so much that, seventy years later, we still associate the house on Avenue George-V with the actress’s little black dresses.
Today, long-lasting partnerships still exist, but they are no longer in the majority and, above all, the most famous stars continuously have contracts with different brands, like Zendaya, who represented Valentino for two years, before to move to Vuitton – she is now also the face of Lancôme in the beauty sector and Bulgari in jewelry.
A versatility that the K-pop group Blackpink also adopts: although the four musicians display an interchangeable look, each of them has signed a contract with a different luxury brand (Dior for Jisoo, Chanel for Jennie, Celine for Lisa, Saint Laurent for Rosé). So does style no longer matter? Can a muse embody any brand as long as she is influential? The reality is, in fact, a little more complex.
What has changed the situation is obviously social networks. “Goals have become quantifiable, and influence has become a science”, summarizes Youssef Marquis, fashion consultant at the head of his own agency, Marquis. On Instagram, we can know the number of people we are talking to and measure the engagement rate, that is to say to what extent the community reacts to a publication with a like, a re-share, a comment. All the fashion communicators interviewed agree on this point: their first instinct, when they are offered a collaboration with a “talent”, is to look at their number of subscribers.
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