The TikTok Effect

The short-form video app has transformed the runway, with designers competing to see who can create the ultimate viral moment.

- Tyler McCall

Thom Browne swears he doesn’t plan on going viral when putting together his fashion shows; he doesn’t even think about how they might play on the internet.

Instead, he crafts his shows—which, really, are much more like pieces of theater—to tell a story to those attending in real life. “For me, it’s more interesting that you get this more intimate experience in regard to what the collection is saying, or what I want to say through the collection,” Browne says.

Still, when you cast Golden Globe–winning actress Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as a modern-day Cinderella and send her down the runway in a pink tulle Cadillac to close the show, as Browne did for his spring 2023 collection, you’re bound to attract more than a few eyeballs online. And on TikTok, there are a lot of eyeballs to be had: The hashtag #fashionmonth alone had a staggering 228 million views in September 2022.

Fashion has always found its way onto social media, whether through archive-obsessed Tumblr accounts or the in-depth analyses found on high-fashion Twitter—and, of course, Instagram, with its reputation for glossy images, has been the reigning platform of choice for many years. But, armed with a video-forward ethos, TikTok is poised to take over.