The 10 NYFW Influencers to Have at your Fashion Event

The A-List, the Front Rowers or….the “Influencers.” As proven in our latest State of Influencer Marketing 2017 report, 36% of Fashion & Retail professionals continue to invite opinion leaders to their events season after season. Ahead of a month dominated by the major global fashion weeks, we wanted to take a closer look to find out who these influential people attending NYFW are; the people who top brands want to invite to all of their fashion events. You might know some, or you might know them all!

In case you’re curious to know how we ended up selecting these 10 people, we had our data team do a little digging. Surprisingly, some influencers don’t have massive personal social media channels, but we looked even further than social media followers, we looked at the actual reach of these peoples’ voices in the fashion industry – making them even more influential by our definition. It may be that they have the ability to generate impact via other channels (blogs or media); some have also garnered a non-digital influence through their profession in the industry. 

In short, the people mentioned below are those who had the largest combined sum of engagement and reach as well as the most invitations to shows in the past seven months.

To stay in the know and not miss any of the looks gracing the runways this season, join our industry-only GPS Radar community.

Without further ado, here are the 10 influencers to have at your next fashion event!

Diana Tsui, Senior Market Editor at The Cut
   

Originally from New York, Diana graduated from Harvard with a Masters in Psychology and is now the Senior Market Editor at The Cut, New York Magazine’s renowned online platform. On her social media channels, she posts a bold mix of fashion and politics to keep you inspired.

Matthew Schneier, Styles Reporter at The New York Times
  

Matthew has been at The New York Times since 2014, where his intelligent criticism has won him the respect of the industry. Before working at the Times, he worked at Style.com as the website’s Deputy Editor. Before his role at the reputable paper, he had written for a number of publications including Harper’s Bazaar, GQ, The New Yorker, Details and Slate.

Steff Yotka, Editor Fashion News at Vogue.com
  

Steff started out as a styling assistant and worked her way up to her current role at Vogue.com. Throughout her career, she worked for Fashionista, Nylon, and Style.com and her work has been published in Elle.com, Refinery29 and Miss Vogue Australia, to name a few.

In her Vogue bio, she is described as a denim collector, self-professed crossword-puzzle wiz, deep believer in long Sunday morning walks and never without a cup of coffee. Anyone who can relate?

Lauren Sherman, New York Editor at Business of Fashion
   

When Sherman first started out pursuing a career as a journalist in New York, she got two offers: one at Forbes as assistant news editor, the other at Cosmopolitan as an online editor. She ended up choosing Forbes which shaped her career, giving her the business edge that makes her writing ever more distinct.

Sherman’s editorial work has become a staple of the New York fashion scene, having written for industry favourite Fashionista.com, Lucky and many others along her journey.

Edward Enninful, Creative Director at W Magazine
 

At the mere age of 18, Edward became the Fashion Director at i-D, making him the youngest person ever to be named an editor at a large international magazine.
The Ghanian-born stylist moved to London with his family at a young age and first set foot in the fashion industry when he was scouted as a model at age 16.
Among other things, Edward is renowned for the “All Black” issue of Vogue Italia back in 2008 where he was a contributing editor. He is also the person on this list with the largest Instagram following (455K).

In 2011, when Enninful was at Vogue US, Condé Nast reached out to offer him a position at W Magazine, where he is still sitting as Creative Director.

Nicole Phelps, Director at Vogue.com/runway
  

Phelps started her career at Women’s Wear Daily and W Magazine. Then, in 2005 she made a bold and unusual move from print magazine Elle to digital newcomer Style.com. It was this decision that helped make her one of the most influential people to know. Today, she is the director of Vogue Runway, Vogue’s go-to destination for everything Fashion Week related.

Fun fact: It’s been said that Nicole was so clothes-obsessed in high school, that she kept a calendar of her outfits and refused to repeat a look more than once a month.

Robin Givhan, Fashion Critic & Featured Writer at The Washington Post
   

Robin first joined The Washington Post back in 1995. Her work has appeared in a long list of other well-known publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, The Daily Beast and the New Yorker. She has also contributed to several books and published her own book in 2015. Data Point: Of all the influencers on our list, Givhan is noted for the top following on Twitter with 321K followers.

To add to her list of achievements, Givhan has won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her fashion coverage.

Anna Wintour, Editor-In-Chief at Vogue

After a quarter of a century as Editor-in-Chief at American Vogue, it’s hard to deny that Wintour is one of the most influential people in the fashion industry. In 2013, she also became Artistic Director at Condé Nast, where she shares her knowledge and experience with other magazines, a role she describes as “an extension of what I am doing now, but with a broader scope.”

Wintour is a sought after fashion icon who most brands have on their wish-list of fashion event attendees.

Vanessa Friedmann, Fashion Director & Critic at The New York Times
  

After graduating from Princeton University, Vanessa worked as a freelance fashion commentator and regularly contributed to American Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Financial Times and Entertainment Weekly. She took over as Fashion Editor at The Economist as soon as the publication decided to focus more on fashion. After working at The Econimist, Friedmann became the Features and Fashion Features Editor at InStyle in the UK. In 2014, she took her current position as Critic at The New York Times.

Stefano Tonchi, Editor-In-Chief at W Magazine

Italian Stefano’s flair for high-end fashion is one reason why Condé Nast hired him to improve the glossy pages of W Magazine, a challenge he has successfully taken on since 2010. Prior to his time at W, he was Editor-in-Chief at T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Much like Anna Wintour, he doesn’t have a large personal social media presence, but one could argue that it isn’t very necessary in his case. The name Tonchi carries enough weight on its own after many noteworthy years at the centre of the fashion industry.

Were you surprised to find someone on the list? Did you know them all or was there perhaps one or two people you hadn’t heard of? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!