Instagram as a promotional channel for luxury fashion. Study of fashion shows as communication tools

Abstract

Luxury fashion brands use Instagram as a channel to disseminate their corporate identities. They try to cover market niches that they did not previously reach due to their exclusive nature, by publishing content about their own events, such as catwalks. Fashion shows have become branding instruments. However, previous literature focuses on the collaborations of these brands with influencers, without giving the main role to the primary sender of the organizational discourse. What formats are used most? With what intention? How does the firm relate to the influencer in the corporate profile? What type of content generates the greatest impact on the audience? To answer these research questions, this work starts with the main objective of comparing how the most followed fashion luxury brands use Instagram to transmit their identities through the promotion of their fashion shows. A mixed, quantitative and qualitative content analysis is proposed of the 387 posts published by Dior, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton and Gucci between February 10 and March 7, 2023, when the weeks of the fashion from Paris, Milan, New York and London. The analysis reflects a non-proportional relationship between the frequency of publication, the interactions recorded and the percentage of engagement, the latter being higher when the format used is the image participated by an influencer. Likewise, the discursive intention is eminently commercial, with specific products taking center stage even when brand stories are shared.