Fashion, something that is ever-evolving and becoming more individualistic as the generations go on, is being transformed through the platform of social media. It has become an ongoing argument on this platform that “social media influencers” are now taking over the rules and jobs of other groups because of their popularity on the internet.

Not only this, they are beginning to take over events as well. One that has been most notably brought to my attention is Fashion Week.

New York Fashion Week, as well as others, has always been the main face of the fashion industry, where fashion designers, brands or “houses” display their latest collections in runway fashion shows to buyers and the media.

They present their top-of-the-line pieces of clothing to their audiences, while using models who have been trained and have worked hard to be in that line of work to show them off.

But, things have changed. Social media influencers who average making millions of dollars per year by making their Tik Toks, uploading overly-edited photos on Instagram, or creating videos on YouTube are now taking the jobs of models.

Just last fall, a YouTube video promoting fall Fashion week was released and blew up with over 4 million views in only 2 weeks. Not only this, the video obtained around the same amount of likes as dislikes.

The main reason for this was that all of the “stars” that were shown in the video were just old-news YouTubers. Thousands of comments just complained about how these “fashion stars” were using their platform for “clickbait and clout” and that their way of trying to make themselves as relatable as possible became “extremely unbearable.”

Many comments I scanned through said the same word over and over again: disappointed. So much so, that they do not want to even follow the event taking place that next season.

These viewers, as well as myself, have grown tired of influencer culture as a whole and reminisce about the times when fashion was presented before social media really grew. When it was raw.

The reason this was even a thought in the first place was because some designer brands still do not have a social media presence to promote their brand. The idea of not having a platform to obtain profitable relationships with big brands, led many investors to become anxious.

These brands started to look to influencers with a large following to support and promote their products, because without that, sales would go downhill rapidly.

Even if social media stars are a necessary evil, companies could at least pick more influencers who are actually inclined in the fashion field and do use social media as a side. It does not just have to directly be “social media” influencers.

High-end brands are taking these young influencers who have young audiences to promote their products, yet a lot of their audiences are children themselves and can’t come close to affording these products in the first place.

Fashion houses like Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Celine are looking to these influencers such as YouTuber Emma Chamberlaine, 16-year-old TikTok star Charlie D’Amelio, and even Noen Eubanks to be the key to attracting younger audiences to luxury brands.

These influencers, as a result, are promoting the products across their platforms for events like Milan Fashion Week for Prada.

Other influencers like Loren Gray, Chase Hudson, Margot Lee, Karen Yeung, and members of the HypeHouse have not only been seen promoting in Milan, but also in London and New York City modeling labels like Dolce and Gabbana.

Even the Dolan Twins and Emma Chamberlain just last year, were partnering with French luxury label, Louis Vuitton to model its looks.

Yes, these celebrities are helping their companies, but the audiences watching them are getting bored of the same faces over and over again on any platform possible, even non-high-end products.

We want to see new faces and even more people who have actually worked to get to the point of being fashion professionals as an occupation.

If not, at some point fashion industries and Fashion Week will truly lose some of their devoted fans for good.