Lessons From Fashion Week and How to Use Them in Your Marketing
During Fashion Week, the world turns its attention to the global fashion hubs to admire the latest works of art from renowned and up-and-coming designers. But to truly earn their time in the spotlight, brands and designers have to think beyond their innovative and captivating designs.
With the whirlwind of New York, London, and Milan Fashion Weeks over, we look back on our favorite marketing campaigns that have emerged from global fashion weeks across the years.
8 Marketing Learnings From Fashion Week
By observing the tactics that brands employ to strike up a buzz around their designers and clothes during fashion week, you can learn how to apply them to your own brands to see the same success.
1. EVENTS HAVE TO BE PHYGITAL OR INCLUSIVE
While nearly 80% of luxury sales are ‘digitally-influenced’, luxury shoppers still want the brick-and-mortar experience, with 31% still visiting physical stores monthly. But brands shouldn’t view online and offline shopping as mutually exclusive experiences, with 67% of consumers agreeing that stores should feature higher levels of digital integration. London Fashion Week has given us the blueprint to show us how.
Back in 2010, Burberry was a pioneer in the use of live streaming their runway, but it’s now become a staple practice. Digital runways this year included the likes of Ahluwalia, Accidental Cutting, Jakke, Vinti Andrews, and Mithridate.
More virtual events dominated London Fashion Week in 2024, with DiscoveryLAB sessions creating immersive showcasing environments that allowed audiences to explore new and emerging brands within the wider creative industry.
Key learnings: You can make your brands more accessible to bigger audiences beyond those who can make it to the physical event through digital experiences including livestreams, interactive events, digital workshops, and more.
2. ANTICIPATION AND SNEAK PEEKS ARE KEY
Luxury brands thrive on maintaining an air of mystery and intrigue. During Fashion Week, brands achieve this through sneak peek previews and behind-the-scenes content shared on social media. In 2024, designer Kim Perets showed us how it’s done, sharing small glimpses into the collection in the run up to the show.
Key learnings: By sharing small sneak peeks on social media, as well as anticipatory optimized blogs and more, your brand can build excitement and suspense for future collections and announcements. This can help to boost the reach and engagement at the time of your events.
3. SUSTAINABILITY IS EVERYTHING
Sustainability is no longer a trendy buzzword. It needs to be a core value for any brand that wants to succeed. Consumers—especially Gen Z and Millennials—highly value sustainability and want the brands they shop with to share the same sentiment.
In fact, 62% of Gen Z consumers prefer to shop with more sustainable brands, while 73% agree that they’re willing to pay more for products that are sustainable. Purchasing decisions for these cohorts aren’t just based on the products but also on personal, social, and environmental values.
During Fashion Week 2025, no brand embraced sustainability more than ELV Denim, whose show was entirely dedicated to circularity. The first fully upcycled brand to take part in the event, ELV transforms discarded garments into high-end luxury pieces. Their Fashion Week display wasn’t a typical runway show but an interactive presentation exhibiting their circular supply chain, from sourcing, washing, and grading to pairing, cutting, and sewing.
Founder and creative director Anna Foster says she aimed to create “a fully transparent presentation, to prove that beautiful luxury fashion can be produced at scale from post-consumer garments and textiles.” ELV Denim knows that having sustainable practices isn’t enough — your consumers need to see you go the extra mile.
Key learnings: If your brand and its practices align with your customers’ values, make sure they know it. You don’t need to stage an elaborate fashion show to do so: channels like SEO-optimized FAQ pages, paid social ads, and influencer campaigns can be powerful communication channels. Just be wary of greenwashing, which can actually do your brand more harm than good.
4. LUXURY IS A WAY OF LIFE
Luxury is a holistic experience, and modern consumers—especially in the wellness, fashion, and lifestyle spaces—expect luxury brands to offer something deeper: a sense of belonging, elevated experiences, and a connection to a broader lifestyle. Luxury brands can no longer rely on consumers’ loyalty by simply providing high-quality products.
Today's customers want brands to share their values and immerse them in an aspirational world. It's not just about what they’re buying but how the brand makes them feel at every touchpoint. This luxury experience could include:
Flagship retail and events
Immersive social media presence
White-glove customer service
Exclusive apps and seamless online shopping
An inbuilt community
Lululemon is a prime example. The brand doesn’t just sell leggings. It sells a lifestyle of movement, mindfulness, and self-improvement, which consumers are clamoring to be a part of.
At Fashion Week 2025, Alo Yoga also offered a holistic luxury experience. The brand, which was named LFW’s official wellness partner, hosted a well-being retreat that offered “a serene escape during Fashion Week”. The exclusive four-day venue hosted classes, a wellness-inspired menu, and access to beauty treatments and restorative therapies.
Key learnings: Selling an affluent lifestyle gives customers something to aspire to and be a part of, beyond just owning a material product. Consider the different touchpoints that your brand offers and how each one speaks to your customers. Understand that luxury isn't just about owning something; it's about being part of something bigger.
5. GEN ZERS ARE KEY CONSUMERS
In the ever-evolving luxury fashion industry, the consumer demographic is undergoing a significant shift. With Gen Z and millennials now making up 70% of luxury spending, increasing your brand awareness allows you to reach new audiences. Young buyers are quickly becoming one of the most powerful consumer groups in the luxury market, and brands need to cater specifically to them to avoid falling behind.
Gen Z is also reshaping what it means to shop with a luxury brand. Unlike older generations, they aren't simply looking for status symbols. They want brands that align with their values, identity, and lifestyle.
Coach has been a legacy luxury brand for decades, and their New York Fashion Week show in 2024 proved they know that if they want to stay relevant, they need to evolve with their consumers.
To make fashion that speaks to the moment, “you have to talk to the younger generation”, said designer Stuart Vevers after the show. He took the iconic Coach logo and style, updating them for a Gen Z audience — think baggy jeans and cropped tees, low-slung hemlines, chunky sunglasses, and fun character slippers that quickly went viral on TikTok.
And it worked. Coach became one of the most talked-about brands on social media, and became the fifth-hottest luxury brand last year. InStyle magazine published an article following the show, simply titled: “Gen Z Loves Coach.”
Key learnings: Your target customer is changing, and you must change with them. High-end and legacy brands can't simply rely on their history. They need to prove they're still relevant by tapping into what excites younger consumers.
6. NOSTALGIA MARKETING STILL WORKS
Heritage has always been part of what makes luxury feel special, but it's also a powerful tool to create emotional connections with customers, particularly younger ones. Gen Z and Millennials are both nostalgic generations, drawn to vintage aesthetics, archival pieces, and brands with a story.
In a digital world where new brands pop up every day on social media, heritage brands represent quality, longevity, and timelessness, all things that feel increasingly rare.
At Milan Fashion Week 2025, Fendi delivered a masterclass in how to celebrate heritage while staying firmly rooted in the now. The collection—designed by the granddaughter of the fashion house’s founders—was heavily reminiscent of a bygone era of fashion. ‘Fur’ coats and stoles, hourglass silhouettes, and crystal embroidery all served as a powerful reminder of Fendi’s decades-long legacy.
Key learning: Heritage is an asset if you can leverage it properly. Luxury consumers want to be part of something bigger, so remind them of your brand story and weave your history into your offerings. Just remember that nostalgia works best when paired with innovation — the magic happens when brands are able to remix their history through a modern lens.
7. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF AN AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
Whether your aim is to build brand awareness through media coverage with a PR stunt, or through a meticulously planned paid social strategy, the goal remains the same: get people talking about your brand.
Take Coperni’s viral spray-on dress moment with Bella Hadid in 2022. By combining their innovative fashion technology with the ‘it girl’ of the moment Bella Hadid, the brand racked up a media impact value of an estimated $26.3 million. Bella’s post sharing a video of the moment generated over $1 million in just one weekend, surpassing 2.8 million likes on Instagram.
Key learnings: To reach a wider audience, invest in your brand awareness campaigns. Don’t view your social media pages solely as a way to promote your products or services and consider broadening your content. Avoid overselling and, instead, treat your socials as if you’re a real person making friends, rather than a business making money. Be sure to regularly interact with your audience by asking questions, commenting on posts, and resharing content that resonates with your values.
8. INFLUENCER MARKETING IS STRONGER THAN EVER
Partnering with influencers allows brands to tap into highly engaged communities of followers.
During Milan Fashion Week FW20, Prada worked with one of the world’s biggest TikTok influencers, Charli D’Amelio. They invited Charli to their show and allowed her to choose from a selection of Prada outfits, in exchange for her creating several videos of her dancing at the Prada event. Charli’s predominantly Gen Z audience meant that Prada could reach a younger audience and cement themselves as a hot name within this demographic.
Key learnings: Working with social media influencers to create branded content, especially at events, can generate a huge amount of online buzz with low resources required. It enables brands to reach new, targeted, and engaged demographics.
The Luxury Marketing Experts
Whether you're featuring on the runway, hosting a stall at Fashion Week, or simply seeking inspiration from these fashion aficionados, these five lessons can be applied throughout your brand’s marketing strategy.
At Block & Tam, we’re the experts in luxury digital marketing. To see how your brand can leverage these proven tactics into its own campaigns, reach out to one of our specialists today.
