With London Fashion Week ready to take over the city in February, new findings show that the consumer interest in the Big Four Fashion Weeks (New York, London, Milan and Paris) has fallen significantly over the last five years.
People often search for Fashion Week online when it is related to controversy
New research undertaken by men’s fashion etailer standout.co.uk shows that interest in fashion weeks has fallen by 20% since 2013.
In 2013, 3.1 million searches were made on all-things relating to the four fashion weeks, but in 2018 this dropped by more than 600,000 searches to 2.5 million.
In terms of which of the big four fashion weeks has fallen the most, London tops the list, with 35% less search interest in the event today when compared with five years ago. The next biggest fashion week to be affected by waning interest is New York, with Google search interest in the event falling by more than a quarter.
In fact, the only Fashion Week to see an increase in search interest was Milan, with 54,000 more searches made in 2018 than 2013.
Although the biggest labels in the fashion industry and the most well-known models in the world are frequenters to the events, the headlines have often been focused on controversy surrounding events, the appearance of an A-list celebrity, or both.
Here is some context behind the numbers and standout news stories published about the Big Four Fashion Weeks over the years that may explain significant rises and falls in search
New York Fashion Week
Known to be the biggest of the ‘big four’ fashion weeks, New York Fashion Week hit its peak search volume in September 2016.
However, this unusual spike of interest, in comparison to the event in the previous year, could have been due to Kanye West’s irresponsible attitude to the opening of his Yeezy show.
100 models were left in the 30 degree heat as Kanye West showed up two hours late, resulting in women fainting and sitting down in the grass as they attempted to stand entirely still as part of a performance art piece. Models walking in the show were seen removing their footwear due to the inability to walk.
London Fashion Week
At a London Fashion Week afterparty in 2013 after she unveiled her River Island fashion collection, Rihanna was ‘bottled’ by a disgruntled fan as she left the club.
The attack came following controversy of her reconciliation with Chris Brown at the time, as the attacker yelled abuse at her. Being hit by the bottle caused Rihanna to fall into a metal shutter, bloodying her knee.
A member of her security team was also injured when running after the attacker and was taken to hospital.
This seemed to be widely reported amongst other 2013 London Fashion Week news, and the main reason for the peak of interest over the last five years.
Milan Fashion Week
Milan Fashion Week peak search interest hit in September 2016, when a man grabbed Gigi Hadid from behind as she was leaving a show with her sister Bella.
The man lifted her up in the air, forcing her to defend herself by elbowing him in the face and shouting. Again, this controversy is seen to be the reason interest in Milan Fashion week picked up.
Paris Fashion Week
At Paris Fashion Week in March 2015, Ben Stiller made an appearance as his ‘Zoolander’ character, Derek Zoolander, accompanied by his co-star Owen Wilson as his character, Hansel.
The surprise appearance of the pair as their alter-egos sparked a light bit of humour into fashion week as they walked the catwalk.
Not only did this cause search volume to surge, but Kim Kardashian also unveiled her platinum blonde locks for the first time. She kept it hidden as she boarded the plane from LA to Paris in order to pull the stunt of showcasing her new look at fashion week first.
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