What is High Fashion Twitter, and What can it Become?
Most people who play an active part in the high fashion industry are aware of the major names that have grown an audience using alternative media platforms like Instagram or TikTok. What most people don’t know is that Twitter has an extremely large and active high fashion community, with more than 500 active accounts, and growing, posting about the subject each day.
The High Fashion Twitter, (hf twitter for aesthetic purposes as dictated by users of the community, has been active for over ten years, and contains a variety of subgroups. They focus on the high fashion industry, and comment on designers, garments, magazines, and all things high fashion related. Accounts will interact with one another, and often, and often escape the confines of the community to find their way to mainstream Twitter timelines. While Instagram and TikTok are often focused on virality, Twitter users in the HF community tend to focus on critiques and reviews. While accounts differ on the type of content they post, most of them have end goals to enter the industry and have unique and varied methods to do so.
In recent months, topics of discussion have focussed heavily onFashion Month. Accounts will not only highlight the runways of the major houses such as Dior, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, but will also provide coverage for shows such as Sandy Liang, Di Petsa, Dilara Findikoglu, and H.A for Schiaparelli, which tend to get overlooked in mainstream media. Alongside this, users will openly discuss and question styling choices made by certain celebrities attending events.
Tina Kunakey attending the Miu Miu aw23 show pic.twitter.com/osnU09pjsZ
— linda (@itgirlenergy) March 7, 2023
One of the most prominent accounts leading these discussions is @MIUCCIAMUSE, 21 year old NYC-native Corrinee, who spoke with me about the impact HF Twitter has had on her career and how she hopes the community will help shift the industry toward positive change. Corrinne currently has 130k followers and is growing her account each day. She said,“ to “make it” in the traditional fashion industry you have to look a certain way or come from a certain background to grow a following, butwith HF Twitter you can be from anywhere and don’t need to look a specific way to grow a platform. “People grow on here organically vs. people on Insta and TikTok who purposely join with the intent of growing a following. Here many of us started posting not to get followers or to get money, but because we genuinely love fashion and what we post.”, she added.
When asked about how the industry views this community, Corinne stated that “not many brands take us seriously in comparison to other influencers on other platforms, I think many of them simply do not care or take Twitter as a whole seriously. For example, IG or TikTok influencers with the same following and influence as me get invited to 5+ runway shows every season, get PR every week, and are able to make a living off their platforms. I don’t do this to make money, it still kind of sucks to know that I wouldn’t have to work 2 jobs to support myself through school if I had this same following on another platform”. Luckily, with more major brands recognizing the influence of the HF Twitter, she is hopeful that the industry at large will start to value the community more, and to offer its members more opportunities.
In recent years,the community has come to realize the power their voices hold, and has begun using that power to find their own unique routes into the industry. An example of this is the recent HF Met Gala, a yearly virtual event held by the community on the same day as the in-person Met Gala, and following the same theme.. Whether they are dressing themselves or their favorite celebrity, putting together an outfit virtually or designing their own pieces, the only requirement to get involved is to post your look with the #hftwtmetgala.
Peter Do SS22 look 15 + Mathieu Matégot ‘Osaka’ Arm Chair 1954. pic.twitter.com/tKP2pT9jl1
— fell in YSL (@fellinysl) January 2, 2022
It’s clear this community is growing each day, with goals to have a more powerful voice in the industry. With such a large potential to not just educate and inform, but to also help create positive change and uplift new voices in the industry, this community allows for anyone to put their opinion in the open and hopefully learn in the process of doing so.
For Corinne, and many users alike they hope to be taken more seriously.“I, like many, have dreamed of working in fashion for as long as I can remember, and if this could be a viable way to start a career in the industry for everyone on the platform who desires to work in fashion, that’s what I hope for.”, she said. Fashion consumers and industry professionals alike should keep an eye on this community and the things that they achieve in the coming years.
