Discover unparalleled insights into the ever-evolving worlds of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle with our extensive range of industry reports.

$33.4 billion in EMV. 500 brands. 11 categories. One year of data that shows exactly where beauty's momentum went and why.

Global beauty visibility grew 5% in 2025, a significant deceleration from previous years, but the headline figure masks a more interesting story. Masstige and Derma grew strongly. Niche Fragrance and Haircare Tools contracted. Wellness surged 45%. The fastest growing brands were the most platform-fluent, the most community-led, and the quickest to move their credibility away from a single source of authority.

The Lefty Insights team analyzed all the forces that defined beauty in 2025, from TikTok's emergence as the industry's dominant growth engine to a structural redistribution of authority from legacy figures to creator communities and what it means for the year ahead.

If you are making decisions about platform strategy, influencer investment, or category positioning in 2026, this is the data you need.

Lefty_TheBeautyIntelligenceReport.pdf

From $33.4B in Earned Media Value across 500 beauty brands, discover the trends, creator strategies, and platform shifts shaping beauty's future.

The Beauty Intelligence Report: Full Report Download

The Beauty Intelligence Report

Autumn/Winter 2026 marked a pivotal shift in how value is created across Fashion Month. While overall Earned Media Value (EMV) dipped slightly, Milan Fashion Week emerged as a powerful counterbalance, narrowing the gap with Paris and increasing its Share of Voice (SoV) by +21%.

Global visibility continued to be shaped by APAC talent, though with a notable evolution: Thai drama stars surpassed the impact of K-pop talent for the first time. Meanwhile, Weibo consolidated its role as a critical driver of visibility, as brands look to rebuild resonance in China.

Beneath these shifts lies a deeper transformation: luxury brands are moving beyond scale-driven visibility toward resonance and relevance. Hyper-targeted casting strategies, long-form storytelling and new intellectual voices all worked together to reshape the fashion month narrative.

What does that mean for your brand strategy?

Our Insights teams at Karla Otto, Lefty, and CTZAR, partner agencies of The Independents, joined forces to identify the season’s defining strategies, decodes the signals and cultural dynamics defining the future of luxury communications and marketing.

Fashion Week AW26 signals a shift from scale to substance, with brands focusing less on reach and more on cultural relevance and deeper engagement.

AW26 Womenswear Roundup

AW26 signals a shift from scale to substance, with brands focusing less on reach and more on cultural relevance and deeper engagement. Our Insights teams at Karla Otto, Lefty, and CTZAR, partner agencies of The Independents joined forces to identify the season’s defining strategies.

Building on 2023’s focus on culture and 2024’s exploration of entertainment, 2025 marked the era of radical proximity. It was the year the digital divide vanished, as celebrities and brands invited global audiences into their inner circles like never before.

But what truly defined the cultural zeitgeist? From the season’s most viral runway moments to the emergence of entirely new lifestyle categories, we’ve identified the forces that commanded the world's attention.

The Year in Data 2025 report marries Lefty’s cutting-edge technology, data insights with Karla Otto’s peerless creative insights. Together, we unpack the high-impact strategies of the past year to provide a strategic blueprint for brand marketing in 2026.

A Year in Data 2025: Unpack high-impact marketing strategies and trends. Get the strategic blueprint for brand success in 2026.

A Year in Data 2025: Full Report Download

A Year in Data 2025: A Look Back and 2026 Trends Revealed

A Year in Data 2025

From viral livestreams to cinematic storytelling, SS26 set a new benchmark for fashion communications. With a record-breaking $881.2M in Earned Media Value (+5% YoY), driven by more content (+23%), creators (+22%), and engagement (+6%), the season proved Fashion Month’s growing social power. As audiences expand beyond the runway, brands stood out through bold, entertaining storytelling — from interactive activations to pop-culture collaborations. To unpack the trends behind this impact, our Insights teams at Karla Otto, Lefty, and CTZAR — part of The Independents — decode the data shaping fashion and influencer marketing.

SS26 Womenswear Roundup

The Cannes film festival is more than glamour—it's a global stage where brands align with culture, cinema, and star power. In 2025, luxury houses like Lacoste, Chanel, and Saint Laurent took on creative roles in film production, while emerging markets and talents from APAC to LATAM reshaped influence. This report uses Lefty’s data to decode how brands made an impact—and what it means for the future of cultural marketing.

2025 Cannes Film Festival

In Q1 2025, influencer marketing in hospitality and airlines showed contrasting trends. Hotel EMV dropped 34% amid reduced mega influencer activity, while airlines saw a 28% boost through strategic, high-impact collaborations. TikTok gained share, driving travel discovery through immersive content. Culturally relevant and niche storytelling proved key to performance across both sectors.

Q1 2025 State of Influencer Marketing | Hospitality & Airlines

Free influencer marketing reports: EMV rankings, fashion week analysis and brand benchmarks across beauty, luxury, sports and more.

Influencer Marketing Industry Reports & EMV Data | Lefty

Industry Reports

The ultimate finale of the fanfare that is fashion season, Paris plays host to the world’s leading luxury labels, attracting not only key names in the industry but A-list stars and influencers alike. With Covid restrictions lifted from many international visitors, SS23 was and felt bigger than ever, culminating in a total EMV of $284M.
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Karla Otto and Lefty reveal the data, insights, and influencers that impacted #SS23 Paris Fashion Week.

PFWWomenswearSS23.pdf

The ultimate finale of the fanfare that is fashion season, Paris played host to the world’s leading luxury labels.

PFW Womenswear SS23

After a subdued few seasons due to Covid-19, Milan Fashion Week reinforced the importance of the experience of fashion. The city came alive, with designers going bigger and bolder with production, parties, and performativity than ever before.

In an increasingly crowded fashion landscape, Milan designers are pulling out all the stops to stand out. A-List FROWS, celebrity collaborations, sex appeal, spectacular sets, and the return of the supermodel conjured up an almighty $117 million in earned media value (EMV). TikTok stars became a more integral part of the parcel — both on and alongside the runway — while K-Stars flocked to the frow after an absence in London.

Lefty and Karla Otto reveal the data, insights, and influencers that made an impact at SS23 Milan Fashion Week.

MFWWomenswearSS23.pdf

Milan Fashion Week SS23 Reinforced the Importance of the Experience of Fashion

MFW Womenswear SS23

Following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, London Fashion Week was plunged into a somber mood. SS23 was due to be rife with buzz, but following the announcement, marquee names from Burberry to guest designer Raf Simons announced they would postpone their shows as a mark of respect. The British Fashion Council advised other designers to cancel parties and reschedule shows that fell on the day of the Queen’s funeral. 

As a result, LFW was back-to-back, filled with outings from young designers and a handful of city-wide comebacks. 

Through it all, Karla Otto and Lefty team up to reveal the data, insights, and key influencers that impacted this season’s edition of London Fashion Week.

633453d62b759560f5fe4bd2_Lefty_Report_FashionWeek_SS23_Women_London.pdf

In a Fashion Week like no other; London still delivered. Karla Otto and Lefty team up to reveal the data, insights, and key influencers that impacted this season’s edition of London Fashion Week.

LFW Womenswear SS23

It’s official: New York Fashion Week is back with vengeance. While Covid restrictions have impacted past seasons, the city came alive this September with homegrown comebacks, international one-offs, and a star-studded guest list.

New York had good reason to celebrate; 2022 marks the 60th anniversary of the CFDA, while Vogue celebrated its 130th birthday with a spectacular Vogue World show down that took over lower Manhattan with a full-scale street show and fair, produced by Bureau Betak. The event created a total of $3.1M EMV.

Although it wasn’t just physical activations that won attention this season; NYFW took the plunge into the Meta-verse, with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger (produced by Bureau Betak) PUMA, Kim Shui, Jonathan Simkhai, and the Blonds experimenting with metaverse streaming and NFTs to drive buzz amongst younger consumers and an international, digital fanbase.

Karla Otto and Lefty team up to reveal the data, insights, and key influencers that made an impact at this season’s edition of NYFW.

NYFWWomenswearSS23.pdf

New York Fashion Week is back with a vengeance, alive with parties, protest, and digital-first thinking.

NYFW Womenswear SS23

Men's Fashion Week resumed business as usual this season post-COVID-19 cancellations. Although smaller than the Women's Edition, it remains a big draw for industry professionals and celebrities, setting the stage for runway trends before September.


Paris maintained its status as the world's fashion capital this menswear season, generating 65% of the total EMV among Men's Fashion Weeks. Its influxes of heritage brands and socially savvy young designers who have mastered 360 event marketing captured the zeitgeist of social media. 


Meanwhile, Milan remains firmly on the menu for its classics, with Prada, Gucci, and Fendi impacting significantly. 


London's appeal remains on young designers; less influential attendees mixed with designers shifting their shows to more prominent cities deemed the event almost missable for S/S23 had it not been for keen press interest. As a result, the small-scale event garnered just 0.3% of Fashion Month's overall media value. 


Throughout this report, Lefty teams up with Karla Otto, combining data intelligence with industry know-how, for a report that uncovers the data behind the scale and statistics of Men's Fashion Week. ‍

MenswearRoundUpSS23.pdf

Men's Fashion Week resumed business as usual this season post-COVID-19 cancellations.

Men’s Fashion Week SS 23: A look back at key trends & insights

The final stop on the menswear circuit, Paris Fashion Week, plays host to some of the world's leading names in luxury. It draws in a sea of industry professionals and swarms of fashion fans desperate to catch a glimpse of the personalities attending the shows.

S/S23 was all about the spectacle. Extravagant sets included Louis Vuitton's giant race track, Dior's quaint countryside cottage, and a live rodeo at Casablanca. King of the destination show, Jacquemus transported guests to the scenic salt mountains of Arles. At the same time, AMI captured the essence of Parisian style with a show that overlooked the rooftops of Paris from Sacré-Cœur.

Lefty analyses the impact and influence across this season's shows.

PFWMenswearSS23.pdf

The final stop on the menswear circuit, Paris Fashion Week, plays host to some of the world's leading names in luxury.

Paris Fashion Week SS23 Menswear

The Spring 2023 menswear schedule was the playground for some of the world’s leading luxury names. With dramatic sets and daring collections, brands orchestrated spectacles on and off the runway.

There was good reason to go big. With extended lockdowns in China leaving stores and distribution facilities closed from March to May, many fashion houses reported falling sales and slashed expectations for their business this year. But rather than just turning to global markets for growth, companies are resisting the headwinds and pressing ahead, aware that China is still on track to become the world’s largest luxury market by 2025.

Through it all, Lefty unpacks the meaning of the data, identifying the major trends emerging from fashion weeks and their impact in China.

MenswearRoundUpSS23(China).pdf

The Spring 2023 menswear schedule featured dramatic sets and daring collections captivating Chinese audiences.

China’s Verdict on Men’s Fashion Week S/S 23

With Covid restrictions eased, Milan Men’s returned in full force for S/S23, with 63 shows, presentations, and digital activations showcasing the best of Italian luxury fashion.

As a market, the Italian fashion sector was hard hit by the pandemic; however, projections by Camera Della Moda expect sales in 2022 to reach 92 billion euros, up 10.5 percent versus 2021 and 2.1 percent versus 2019, marking a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels.

Lefty analyses the impact and influence across this season’s shows.

MFWMenswearSS23.pdf

With Covid restrictions eased, Milan Men’s returned in full force for SS23.

Milan Fashion Week SS23 Men's Wear

It's no secret that Coachella is a mecca for brands looking to engage with young consumers. But this year, brands raised the stakes by investing in virtual and exclusive experiences. From NFTs to invite-only parties, companies pulled out all the stops to create memorable activations. Compared to previous years, companies have begun to realize the potential benefits of investing in immersive experiences at Coachella. Often, these types of activations generate high engagement on social media and appeal to crucial demographics like Millennials and Generation Z. Since this is an undoubtedly costly strategy for brands to adopt, it does raise the question of whether such efforts ultimately pay off?

Coachella2022.pdf

It's no secret that Coachella is a mecca for brands looking to engage with young consumers, but is it worth the cost?