How fashion is embracing TikTok

By Hasina Khatib26 February 2020

From Prada to Celine, TikTok influencers are storming the territory previously occupied by heavily-filtered Instagram influencers. Here’s everything you need to know

If you’re above the age of 25, you likely don’t have the patience or the storage space to spare for the notoriously popular social video app, TikTok. It comes as no surprise, given that the app prides itself on the thriving base it has found in 16 to 24-year-olds. Owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok allows users to share bite-sized videos catered for the minuscule attention spans of Gen Z. The sales pitch for the app itself isn’t a radical one. After all, the Twitter-owned platform, Vine, once bragged about 100 million monthly active users too.

However, where TikTok has succeeded is in creating a home for jaded netizens who are tired of thumbing through #sponcon (ie sponsored content) and paid promotions. By late last year, it had easily overpowered Instagram’s stranglehold on the charts with a whopping amount of 1.5 billion downloads—outpacing the Facebook-owned platform by a canyon-sized margin of 238 million downloads. With the numbers clearly indicating that the new generation can be found in the 15-second real estate of the native video platform, an interesting juxtaposition arises for the savvy world of fashion. Does TikTok need fashion labels, or do brands need the app more?

What TikTok influencers have that their Instagram counterparts don’t

Industry savants have long been proclaiming the death of the era of influence. The picture-perfect tribe of Instagram influencers may not be dead in the water quite just yet, but numbers suggest that their influence certainly is. Research has suggested that influencer engagement is nesting at the bottom of the barrel with an all-time low. Instagram seems to agree. Taking cognisance of the detrimental effect that it can have on mental health, the platform rolled out the polarising ban on the visibility of likes last year. As the #goals culture finds itself hooked on to life support, TikTok’s fuss-free approach comes into the picture.

So, what makes TikTok irresistible for Gen Z? For starters, it’s the anti-aspirational approach being peddled by the video app. Numbed by years of ‘my life is better than yours’ monotony, a new generation of webizens is striking back by denouncing the establishment. The omnipresent backdrop of spare-no-expense vacays and cool-girl rosé clinks at Sunday brunch are being swapped for the privacy of the bedroom, which allows users to express their individuality in ways that have long been shunned by the picture-perfect aesthetic of Instagram. The low barrier of entry makes the app a haven for amateurs and first-time users. While video giant YouTube is known for churning out polished videos, the glossy lacquer of perfection is not welcome on TikTok. Handheld videography, shaky frames and low production quality are the assets you’ll want to arm yourself with, if you’re looking to make it big on the platform.

Instead of leaning into the existing cliques, TikTok is today creating its own subculture of cool girls. The e-girl—abbreviated for electronic girl—is a prime example of the influencer antidote that Gen Z is craving. How do you recognise her when you come across one? The insouciant smattering of rouge on her cheeks, the heart-shaped accents underneath her eyeliner, the Billie Eilish-approved highlighter hair streaks or the ironic band tee layered over a full-sleeved shirt. This anti-influencer alternative takes her cues from the veritable buffet of fashion influences provided by each era—elements of grunge, emo, anime, hip hop and BDSM are all fair game as she crafts her own individualistic identity to counter the conveyor belt sameness of influencers on other apps.

How TikTok is impacting the fashion industry

Following the trail of breadcrumbs that their audience has dropped, brands have no choice but to follow their consumers to the new-age video platform. Last September, global makeup heavyweight MAC Cosmetics conducted TikTok’s most successful marketing campaign with a hashtag challenge that attracted a staggering amount of 2.3 billion views. Anchored around Fashion Week, the video challenge invited viewers to become part of the #YouOwnIt messaging. Elsewhere, Burberry challenged viewers to recreate the new Thomas Burberry ‘TB’ monogram drafted by creative director Ricardo Tisci by using hand gestures. The British luxury house walked away with 57 million views and over 30,000 user-generated videos. Closer home, homegrown names like Myntra have been rolling out their own video challenges to capture the attention of the flighty Gen Z-ers.

Beyond the dazzling allure of snacky video challenges, the video platform is making its might known in the fashion industry. Further proof that the world of fashion is now courting TikTok, and not the other way around, comes from French fashion house, Celine. Last December, the 74-year-old luxury brand featured Noen Eubanks, an 18-year-old TikTok influencer, in its newest fashion campaign. With over seven million followers to his credit, the brand commemorated his teen idol status with a black-and-white portrait of the neon-haired star.

Fast forward to 2020, and the reach of TikTok influencers is all-pervasive. Prada’s recent fall presentation at Milan Fashion Week saw Charli D’Amelio taking in the glamour from the front row—an experience that she obligingly documented for her 28-million strong following on the app. After the show, she recruited a couple of models for busting out some dance moves on Avril Lavigne’s popular track, What The Hell. The bite-sized clip has since attracted 14.3 million eyeballs and over three million likes. When you allow the sheer strength of numbers to sink in, it becomes clear that there’s no undermining or dismissing the app’s muscle power. As it continues to soar upwards on its meteoric trajectory to the top, one thing remains crystal. This is TikTok’s world, and we are just living in it.