The Social Media Trap

TWIF: Fashion Can’t Rely on Social Media; Demna’s New Gucci & More

Who’s up and down in the business of fashion, luxury and beauty this week.

1. Skincare startup Starface, known for its star-shaped acne patches, closed a $105 million round led by Astō Consumer Partners and Align Ventures as its annual revenue exceeds $100 million, with founders keeping the controlling stake of the company.

2. Bathhouses are seeing a global resurgence as a social wellness “third place,” but high upfront capital and complex regulations mean modest entry fees offer a long, difficult climb to profitability

3. Meryll Rogge’s Marni debut channeled the founding spirit of Consuelo Castiglioni in its charming awkwardness and graphic sensibility. Owner OTB struggled to commercialise the vision of former designer Francesco Rizzo. Rogge’s work could engage devotees of old Marni as well as new clients.

4. Fashion supply chains are thrown into chaos once more after the US Supreme Court struck down most of Trump’s tariffs and the White House retaliated with a new 10 percent global levy.

5. Mark Zuckerberg’s attendance at the Prada show is unlikely to be the first and last time a tech CEO will pop up at fashion week as the two sectors continue to explore partnerships, like the reported smartglasses tie-up between Meta and the Italian brand.

6. The most anticipated debut of Milan Fashion Week was also its most polarising. New designer Demna sent out a stark and raunchy line up on a range of archetypes, from femme fatales to powerlifters, in a bid to reassert Gucci’s fashion authority. Whether it will reignite sales at Kering’s flagship brand remains to be seen.

7. Instagram’s new ‘Shop the Look’ feature and recent algorithm shifts highlight the vulnerability of social media reliance, where creators fear brand dilution from automated tags while companies like Oddity faced a massive stock drop due to the instability of rented social spaces.

8. Richard Baker emerged as the villain of luxury retail in a scathing New York Times writeup for prioritising real estate gains over the retail health of his luxury empires, including Saks Global, his most recent casualty.

9. Fashion commentators are already yawning at the Met’s “Fashion Is Art” dress code, calling the 2026 theme as lazy as saying “water is wet,” setting the scene for basic red carpet looks without any real creative friction.

Catch up on all the news of the week in fashion, luxury and beauty here.

The Social Media Trap

When the foundations that social media platforms are built on change, they can take entire businesses out with them. (Pexels)

At Prada’s runway show in Milan on Thursday as diaphanous dresses, daring crop tops and knee-high boots wafted down the runway, onlookers spotted an unexpected face on the front row: Meta founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg’s presence — which many guessed is related to Meta’s push into wearable “smart” sunglasses — was out of the ordinary, but neatly encapsulates the fine balance tech and fashion firms now straddle. Via their advertising dollars, fashion and beauty companies are sizeable revenue streams for the likes of Meta and TikTok, while brands rely on social media to reach customers.

But social media is often referred to as a rented, not owned, space for businesses, and recent events have seen both creators and big companies grapple with that vulnerability.

Last week, a handful of influencers began to flag a new “Shop the Look” feature on Instagram. But instead of this being a welcome addition — until now, creators have not been able to link out directly from their Instagram Reels or feed posts, just from short-lived Stories — creators were quick to decry the feature. The shoppable links added were not vetted or chosen by them, nor were they necessarily for the items they were sporting. Instead, the “Shop The Look” feature uses AI visual recognition to scope out similar products to whatever the creator has posted. A Meta spokesperson described the feature as a limited test that allowed it to gather feedback and said that the company does not make commission on any sales.

For influencers who make their living curating product selections for their followers online, it’s a two-pronged issue. Firstly, they’re not able to realise any commissions from these sales — a not insubstantial amount of revenue for many creators alongside sponsored posts. Secondly, as they have no oversight over what products are being recommended, nor is it readily flagged to their audience that the suggestions are from AI, their followers could think they’re endorsing products they have no connection to. If a creator is wearing, say Loro Piana and Bottega Veneta, to have it implied to be Shein or H&M, is dilutive to both their personal brand and their audience’s trust in them. Many influencers have shared frustrations with the Meta-owned app’s repeated algorithmic tweaks, which they feel have made it harder to reach their audiences organically.

There’s more. On Thursday, “beauty tech” company Oddity’s share price dropped 50 percent when it warned that an “algorithmic change” undertaken by its biggest advertiser partner was affecting its ability to recruit new customers, and said sales would likely slump 30 percent in the next quarter. It had previously forecast sales growth of more than 20 percent in the medium term. (It did not name the partner; analysts presume it is Meta.)

Digital platforms have upended commerce and go-to-market strategies. It’s free to get started, the barriers to entry are low and reach can spike worldwide in the blink of an eye. It’s easy to get real-time analytics, test different campaigns and recruit new customers.

But when the foundations that the platform is built on change, they can take entire businesses out with them. The original direct-to-consumer boom in the late aughts was fuelled by the advent of social media and platforms like Shopify that made e-commerce frictionless. Many brands minted in that era, like Warby Parker, Glossier and Away have struggled to live up to the valuations they secured at that time after digital advertising costs spiked. As a hedge, brands are exploring other social media platforms like Pinterest, where they can curate a visual identity in a similar manner to Instagram. Others are investing in YouTube, which is still the most-used platform in the US, while Reddit can also be a valuable, if volatile, source of insights and community-building. Creators are also diversifying to adopting new channels like Substack and TikTok or investing in their own podcasts.

But history still repeats itself, and Oddity’s woes lay bare the dangers of relying too heavily on social media. During its earnings call, its leadership said its customer acquisition costs had more than doubled following this algorithmic change. (The company said it had identified the root of the problem and hopes to return to business as usual by year-end.)

Eschewing social media altogether is not an option. But when influencers, brands and everyday users alike are at the whim of algorithmic quirks and updates, companies would do well to remember that their strategies need to be just as responsive and agile as these mercurial changes.

By Daniela Morosini

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