Kylie, Meghan, luxury's big-hitters and logo kings are key for 2018 fashion says Lyst

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 20, 2018

Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Meghan Markle have been the top three celebrity fashion influencers in the past year, while the most wanted brands on Instagram were Veja, Reformation and Attico, a new report said on Tuesday. Supreme, Champion and Fila were in demand for logo lovers and ugly sneakers, belt bags and leggings were global bestsellers.

Who says so? Luxury-focused global fashion search platform Lyst, which has tracked more than 100 million searches this year from 80 million shoppers, across 5 million fashion products from 12,000 online stores. For the first time this year, it also factored in social media metrics.

Its resulting Year in Fashion Report shows just what has been on the minds of high-spending consumers in 2018 and underlines the ongoing impact of streetwear, celebrity influencers and social media.

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So what did we find out from the report? “2018 was the year fashion went viral - meme fashion melted the internet and Instagram emerged as the fashion force, creating new brands and influencers,” Lyst said.

It added that “Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian were confirmed as the global ultra-influencers,” but with the new Duchess of Sussex in third spot, they haven't had the field to themselves. And the rest of the list also held some stiff competition. Meghan Markle was ahead of Cardi B (who was in fourth place) then Beyoncé, Serena Williams, Chiara Ferragni, Blake Lively, Rihanna and Ariana Grande. 

The company said the popularity of oversized hoodies this year (up 130%) was due to Grande and that makes it clear that these celebs can shift specific product rather than just affecting general trends. 

The Gucci balaclava Rihanna wore at Coachella caused a 19% spike in searches, Lively gave Ralph Lauren searches a boost, Williams’ Off-White x Nike ensemble in the summer caused a surge in demand for black tennis outfits, and Beyoncé’s custom Balmain yellow cropped BAK sweater caused a 58% rise in searches for Balmain hoodies. 

Cardi B’s support for FashionNova helped supercharge searches for the affordable retailer, while Meghan Markle wearing any label virtually guaranteed a 200%+ spike in searches for it.

And the top two celebs really made a huge impact on certain items with Kardashian helping revive the Fendi logo when she posted a photo dressed head to toe in the FF ‘Zucca’ monogram. And Jenner has driven more than 2 million searches this year, from Adidas tracksuits and Dior sunglasses to Victoria’s Secret underwear and Alexander Wang mini dresses. A pink mini dress that she wore  to her birthday party saw searches for ‘pink dresses’ increase 107% in the following 48 hours.

INSTABRANDS & LOGOS

Lyst monitored the spikes in search demand correlating to Instagram mentions and brand tags during the course of 2018 and, as mentioned, Veja, Reformation and Attico came out ahead. But also strong were Realisation Par as the label’s ‘it’ pieces were seen on several influencers, while Ganni saw its global searches up 52%. Insta-friendly Staud's Shirley bag sold out this summer, and Nanushka flew the flag successfully for sustainable denim. Faithfull the Brand, Rouje and Stine Goya also benefited from social media mentions.

We know that logos have been a big ongoing trend and while Supreme, Champion and Fila ruled here, the variety of brands whose logos were in demand was pretty impressive. 

Prada, Fendi and Gucci were next on the list with Prada benefiting from renewed interest in its nylon accessories. Then came Kappa, Versace, Louis Vuitton and Celine. In the case of that last label, perhaps we should spell it Céline because the loss of the é accent in the logo marked a watershed moment with searches for Phoebe Philo-era Céline logo pieces immediately spiking on resale sites, especially the logo plastic grocery bag and the ‘Classic’ leather tote. 

MOST WANTED

The most desired items globally this year were the Gucci logo belt and Off-White Industrial belt, followed by Fendi’s logo tights. Ganni’s pink boilersuit was also a hit, as were the Realisation Par leopard skirt and Jonathan Simkhai lace-up jeans. Chloé’s horse-print suit proved popular, as did Prada Lurex socks and Saint Laurent's LouLou sunglasses. And the final entry in the top 10 was Prada’s flame-heeled shoe.

Outside of the most lusted-after individual items by specific labels, it’s interesting that the most popular items generally this year tended to be long-established pieces, with a definite nod towards the casual.

As we said earlier, ugly sneakers, led by the Balenciaga Triple S, Filo Disruptor and Nike M2K Tenko, were bestsellers. Belt bags had a moment too, with searches up 80%, led by Gucci and Topshop.

Always-versatile leggings remained a big draw in third place with 0.4m searches a month, while puffers were the most searched coat style on Lyst, up 59%. Slides reflected the hot summer but also the ongoing popularity of this shoe type with Gucci’s Supreme slides the most popular.

Tiny sunglasses moved from the catwalk to take sixth place in the ranking with 0.5m searches and the Le Specs x Adam Selman model was the top style. 

Lyst also said that skinny jeans remain the biggest sellers worldwide with Topshop’s Joni the most searched for in the first three months of the year. That’s despite a trend cycle that has lasted not only years, but decades, having defeated any attempts to consign them to the fashion history books.

And consumers don’t seem set to move away from tight and skinny any time soon as next came Kardashian favourite the bike short with searches up 78%. That was ahead of ‘sensible sandals’ like Birkenstocks, Tevas and Crocs at number nine. Finally, in 10th place were cropped hoodies, boosted by plenty of celebrity endorsement this year.