Balenciaga, Gucci are key labels of 2021, Kim Kardashian is top influencer, says Lovethesales

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 23, 2021

As society around the world looked to be bouncing back from the pandemic, 2021 saw influencers making a bigger impact than they had in crisis-hit 2020. And many of the biggest were names who’ve been influencing fashion choices for several years.

Data from UK sales aggregator site Lovethesales.com shows Kim Kardashian in the lead with the biggest influencing moment of the year. She drove a 317% increase in searches for Balenciaga clothing on the back of her appearance at the Met Gala.

Moving on from reality show royalty to real royalty, in second place was the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton), who created a 257% uplift in searches for bow-tied dresses after she appeared at a Christmas Carol Service a few weeks ago. Demand for looks similar to her sleek red Catherine Walker dress skyrocketed in the hours after being spotted. And given that the service will be broadcast on TV on Christmas Eve, interest could rise again.

Meanwhile, Harry Styles drove interest in feather boas higher (up by 182%) as he wore three to match his trio of outfits at the Grammys this year.

And in May, Dua Lipa saw searches for gold dresses almost doubling (up 91%) after she appeared in one by Vivienne Westwood at the Brit Awards.

And rounding out the top five was Lil Nas X, driving a 78% spike in searches for yellow Gucci suits last month at the LACMA Awards. 

Lovethesales also listed the top five fashion brands of the year based on both rises in brand searches and overall demand for their clothing.

This ranking placed Balenciaga at the top with a 150% rise in searches, followed by Gucci with a 90% rise. Skims was next with a 50% increase, ahead of Savage x Fenty’s fourth-placed 37% rise. And Louis Vuitton in fifth place saw a 21% uplift.

Collaborations were big news too this year and the top one was The North Face x Gucci that led to a 231% rise in brand searches for the outerwear specialist and a 70% rise for the Italian designer label.

Next was Balenciaga x Fortnite, that led to a 30% spike in interest for the former, while the Yeezy x Gap launch sent brand searches for Gap up by 21%.

The top fashion products overall for women this year were chunky loafers that saw a 350% increase in fashion searches for them compared to 2020. And micro bags saw a 273% increase. Sweater vests meanwhile rose 210% and low-rise jeans were up 105%.

For men, velvet blazers spiked 114%, those sweater vests that women also like rose 64%, pearl necklaces rose 29% as androgynous fashion searches rose generally, and knit jumpers were 23% higher.