An Early Look at How Riccardo Tisci's Burberry Is Performing on Instagram
The finale for Burberry's Spring 2019 collection, designed by Riccardo Tisci. Photo: John Phillips/BFC/Getty Images
Fashion onlookers may still be parsing out how they feel about Riccardo Tisci's highly anticipated debut at Burberry, but the proof's in the Instagram numbers — and so far, they seem to portend good things for the designer's tenure.
One of Tisci's first moves at the heritage brand was to release an immediately shoppable T-shirt featuring a new Thomas Burberry monogram prior to the show. Early posts about the tee from Tisci's personal account and model Irina Shayk's account had effectiveness rates of 4.92 percent and 4.99 percent, respectively, according to visual marketing company Dash Hudson.
Although the agency describes this as a "lukewarm reception" due to the fact that "people don't like change" to things like heritage labels' logos, the agency notes that Tisci still did well at creating overall buzz for both himself and for Burberry through its Spring 2019 show. Tisci's follower acquisition rate jumped from an average of 1,190 per day to 7,700 new followers on show day, and Burberry's official handle saw an increase of 29.8 thousand followers as its organic reach spiked to 79 million.
While it's not surprising that a label would gain a bunch of new followers on the day of a highly publicized fashion week event — Christopher Bailey's farewell show for the brand last season added 26.4 thousand followers to the label's handle — what's perhaps quietly impressive about it in Tisci's case is that it happened without any buzz-generating VIPs sitting front row.
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Still, he clearly benefited from the star power Kendall Jenner brought to the room when she made her first fashion month appearance of the season by walking the runway for him. Two pictures of Kendall on the Burberry catwalk posted by Kris Jenner turned out to be the best-performing pieces of user-generated content related to the show. (Thanks, Mom.)
What's more, celebrities beyond the front row and the runway are already showing their support for his work just days after it debuted. Case in point: Musician M.I.A. appeared at the premiere of her documentary "Matangi/Maya/M.I.A." wearing a fresh-off-the-runway Burberry by Tisci look in London on Wednesday, making her the first celebrity to wear the collection on the red carpet.
M.I.A. wearing the brand-new Burberry collection in London. Photo: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images
Only time will tell how Tisci's take on Burberry fares moving forward, but at least for now, things aren't looking too shabby.
