PFW SS27: The Most Impactful Fashion Week on Record

Overview

In partnership with Karla Otto, we analyze London Fashion Week SS27 to uncover the key trends, cultural shifts, and brand performance metrics shaping the season.

With Paris Fashion Week, SS27 Fashion Month ended on a record high. Across nine days and more than 100 shows and presentations, the city mixed spectacle with substance: entertainment-filled shows met star power from the likes of Rihanna, Shakira and John Malkovich, while others leaned into art, film, literature and even the growing influence of Substack. 

PFW became the most visible Fashion Week ever recorded with Lefty data, generating $795.6 million in Earned Media Value (EMV) – a +59% growth YoY. Its cultural weight also carried the conversation well beyond the week itself. 

Top Brands of PFW SS27

Dior Creates 20% of PFW’s Overall Visibility

The top five brands all ran best-in-class 360 strategies built on the same winning trifecta: front rows that mixed high-impact talent with more culturally attuned names, show sets designed to spark conversation, and strong displays of craftsmanship. 

Dior nearly tripled its EMV thanks to a continued talent partnership with Thai stars Lingling Kwong and Orm Kornnaphat – both the top 2 talents of the week – alongside appearances from Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Toheeb Jimoh. 

Dior SS27 via Spotlight

Schiaparelli entered the top 5 brands for the first time, thanks to increased visibility generated by Thai actors ‘Namping’ Napatsakorn Pingmuang and ‘Keng’ Harit Buayoi, who sat alongside pop star of the moment Tate McRae. 

Meanwhile, Chanel amplified its critically acclaimed collection with viral moments: Rachel Ojuromi, who went from recreating Chanel looks in Nigeria with her stylist Debby Fasingha to walking its runway; its TikTok with Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Dua Lipa and Nicole Kidman singing to Adéla, dubbed this decade’s equivalent of the Oscar selfie; and Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 bag from the Patrimoine archives gracing the catwalk. 

Thai Drama Takes Over the Instagram Rankings

Thai talent asserted their power with a tried-and-tested strategy we've called out in previous seasons: for fandoms, more is more. Orm and Lingling published a combined 36 posts for Dior, generating over $200M EMV between them – two-thirds of the brand’s total media impact.  

Top Influencers for PFW SS27

Increasingly, these stars’ glam teams and families are becoming a bigger part of the fashion week story. Beyond amplifying talent, these voices offer a more intimate, less orchestrated view of the runway experience, with content that feels less like official coverage and more like being there. Orm’s mother brought fans into Dior’s fashion week through a personal, behind-the-scenes lens, feeding fans’ desire to get closer to their idols and sparking $8.9M EMV for the brand. Meanwhile, celebrity makeup artist ‘Homeless Makeup’ built on his Milan momentum, sharing tutorials of the stars' looks, fun BTS moments with the talent and his own candid runway reactions.

Signs of Substance 

Beyond celebrity reach, brands asserted their cultural depth. For its ‘Antibiblioteca’ show, staged by Bureau Betak in Paris’ Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Valentino asked every guest to bring a book. This flooded feeds with book recommendations, pausing traditional show coverage with a glimpse into what moves the guests. In an era of curated posts, the book someone chooses reveals far more than an outfit ever could. The concept was complete with commentary by the Internet’s resident librarian, Jack Edwards. 

Elsewhere, Matières Fécales dedicated its show to ‘the 99%’. The brand staged it on Place de la République, a square closely associated with protest in Paris, and cast 99 models of colour, drawn largely from the designers’ close friends and community. In a surprise twist, the 500 people attending Lyas's La Watch Party were invited to. Rihanna’s front-row appearance amplified the show, and its EMV grew by a standout 795% YoY. 

Matières Fécales SS27 via Spotlight

Brands also sought more thoughtful and long-form coverage via Substackers, including Violet Grace Atkinson and Julia Berolzheimer at Stella McCartney, and British commentator Chani Ra (thefashionnap) at Chanel. Meanwhile, The Row and Hermès continued to stand out with quieter strategies, from banning phones and social posting to keeping front rows small and steering clear of star power. 

PFW Generates Nearly 2.7x as Much as MFW on Weibo

Paris brands became the most visible across Weibo, signaling a clear focus on China. Compared to previous weeks, the talent approach was more strategic: there were fewer Chinese celebrities overall, but each one had more impact. The top talent was Chinese actress Dilraba Dilmurat, who took over Dior’s official Weibo account and generated $20M in EMV for the house. 

PFW also sparked significant conversation on the platform, with its Hot Topics drawing more than 128M engagements. In New York and London, celebrities drove the top 10 topics. In Paris, brands and collections drove most of them, a sign of the cultural weight Paris houses carry on Weibo. 

An Important Disclaimer 

The tracking period for PFW Womenswear SS27 covered 28 September – 7 October 2026, and the data analysis was retrieved from Lefty on 8 October 2026 (PM). While this study aims to capture an exhaustive list of influencers, some influencers who have created content for participating brands may not be taken into account in the present study. Additionally, data could not be retrieved from profiles where engagement metrics such as likes or views are hidden. EMV of co-authored posts are attributed to the original owner of the co-post. Discrepancies in EMV, engagement, the number of likes, shares, or comments may appear due to content continuing to be interacted with on Instagram and Weibo after the date of the data being extracted from Lefty.