A
ll summer long, I was
itching to get my feet
into a pair of kitten-
heel raffia pumps
embroidered with
bananas, cherries,
kiwis and carrots—
the footwear
equivalent of
Carmen Miranda. They looked bonkers,
but in a good way: fun, whimsical, and
delightfully eccentric.
But they weren’t by Gucci or Prada and I
hadn’t spotted them at Paris Fashion Week
or in an expensive department store. They
were MR by Man Repeller, the footwear line
by blogger-turned-media-mogul Leandra
Medine. Launched last October exclusively
on Net-a-Porter, in just two collections
the brand has become a coveted name for
shoe-lovers in fashion’s edgier circles. And
it has also bestowed on Medine the highest
of fashion statuses: digital influencer-slash-
credible designer. In today’s industry, it’s the
new jackpot.
Once seen as a temporary fad and the
preserve of the enthusiastic amateur, blogging
has blossomed into one of fashion’s most
lucrative sectors, with the upper echelon of
these influencers raking in millions of dollars
a year. And the best bloggers are now fashion
celebrities—equal to top editors in terms of
clout, but also acting as brand ambassadors,
street-style gurus and lifestyle muses.
The rise of social media has been integral
to blogging. Medine, who counts 500,000
followers on her personal Instagram account
and 1.8 million on Man Repeller, is now
more powerful on social media than many
established fashion brands. It has also made
the term ‘blogger’ an outmoded one: many
of the influencers we follow today don’t
actually have blogs or, if they do, they’re only
supplementary platforms to Instagram, which
has become a portal for their own fashion
adventures—and their own fashion lines.
“It makes perfect sense,” says Agnès
Rocamora, a reader in social and cultural
studies at The London College of Fashion.
“Fashion influencers have multi-hyphenate
personalities. ‘Marketer’ is one of them. They
understand and have access to the fashion
industry in truly new ways. The progression
from representing someone else’s label to
launching their own products is only natural.”Medine has chosen footwear. But there is
a range of influencer-designed products on
offer: bikinis, dresses, accessories, handbags,
and even phone and travel cases. These are
being created by everyone from Los Angeles-
native Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast, to
Italians Chiara Ferragni of The Blonde Salad,
and Giorgia Tordini and Gilda Ambrosio
of Attico.FRUITS OF LABOUR
Above: Man Repeller founder
Leandra Medine at New
York Fashion Week. Left:
Embroidered raffia pump by
MR by Man Repeller, available
exclusively at Net-a-Porterhong kong tatler fashion. september 2017 67