The end goal for these brands is ultimately to make money which can only come from consumers actually buying products which certainly isn't limited to clothing. I mentioned accessories in my other post -- couple hundred for perfume or tens of thousands for bags.
Image without sales is just hype and I'm not entirely convinced that a person with the kind of money to become a preferred customer of these brands (someone who can buy many items on a regular basis) would have no awareness of these brands, what they represent in terms of status and would need to be influenced by press coverage of Gigi or Kendall walking in these shows to then covet those brands. Even for such a potential customer who isn't fashion savvy, there usually isn't indisputable proof that they were steered to the brand because of those models. It's just as likely that they were influenced by an actor with 3x the fame who wore it to the Oscars.
Saint Laurent has gained huge profit over the last few years, it's one of the most discussed brands and it didn't even have an active instagram account until a few months ago. No Hadid or Jenner have been featured in its ad campaign or runway show.
It's clear that luxury brands can create/maintain coveted images with heightened visibility and make profit without using those specific models.
Of course you can't directly link sales to any one marketing opportunity. But think of it in terms of H&M, as I mentioned earlier. Of course these consumers are not running out to buy any designer products, but the hype that their brand receives from these is obviously extremely beneficial or, from an efficient market view, no one would be wasting their time with it every year. It works.
And you can look at the difference between Alexander Wang for H&M, which used top models such as Lexi and Anna, and Balmain for H&M which used Kendall and Gigi. There was absolutely no comparison in the end when it came to the marketing success and online presence of each collection. After looking at metrics it was by far the most successful H&M collaboration so far in terms of consumer influence and global recognition.
That's not to say that you can't profit without a huge online presence. Saint Laurent was lucky that Hedi had a vision that worked, and is a marketing genius in other ways. But it is rare that you see that level of results under a new designer. Just as it is almost impossible to find a model with the continued success that Nobis has with no social media presence whatsoever. Everyone can hope for that magic, but your best bet is online presence. Full stop. In the world right now, social media is king and Internet buzz is equal to success in the eyes of the business because it is proven to work.
You may not agree that it translates to sales, but as I mentioned, from an efficient market point of view, if it didn't no one would waste their time. There is obviously evidence to support its financial benefits. Even if you're not positive, why take the risk? Why hire Natasha, Anna, Raquel - supermodels in our eyes but unknowns to the rest of the world - and see no online buzz after your show when you could hire Gigi and Kendall and see your Instagram hashtag updating with images of your show every 2-3 seconds. There was a substantial increase in Versace's Instagram followers after Gigi's posts. So as a fashion house you can either sit around resisting change and debating whether online presence truly translates into sales, or you can hire the nepotism models and watch as every mainstream media outlet and every teenager on Instagram posts about your show.
