Meet the digital fashion darlings bridging the gap between URL and IRL.
A new cadre of digital-savvy creators is quietly redrawing the boundaries of influence in fashion. They are young, deeply immersed in the culture, and deft in their navigation of a system that is at once ravenous for novelty and skeptical of authenticity. With instinct and precision, they’re infiltrating an oversaturated landscape, not by mimicking legacy codes, but by sidestepping them entirely. The industry, ever alert to the scent of relevance, is already circling.
Lyas
Lyas (né Elias Medini) didn’t need a traditional magazine column to become one of fashion’s most incisive commentators. The Paris-based fashion narrator has gained a loyal following online by telling it exactly how he sees it – sans filter. His candid TikTok runway reviews made him a cult fixture of fashion week. With outlets from Dazed to The Cut amplifying his quips, Lyas is carving out a new paradigm in fashion criticism, with each catwalk that comes his way. In an era when many play it safe, he’s proof that unvarnished commentary can captivate the industry and audiences alike.
Dara Allen
Dara Allen is the multi-hyphenate who always seems one step ahead of the zeitgeist. As Interview Magazine’s Fashion Director (and a working model herself), she has reimagined the role in her own image. One season you’ll spot her in understated pencil skirts and neutrals that quietly cut through the noise of trend-chasing peacocks and the next, she’s embracing an exuberant, playfully experimental look just as “quiet luxury” hits its peak. Equally fluent in TikTok as she is in Vogue-speak she’s fast become an industry favorite.
Beka Gvishiani
Beka Gvishiani has turned Instagram’s @StyleNotCom into fashion’s sharpest running commentary. Armed with nothing but a bright blue baseball cap and a flair for brevity, this Tbilisi-born creator delivers one-line show reviews that often say more than a 1,000-word critique. His pithy, Arial-bold dispatches – equal parts cheeky observation and genuine enthusiasm – have attracted hundreds of thousands of followers who refresh his feed for a dose of reality during fashion month. By making fashion criticism accessible, immediate, and fun, he’s opened up a once-closed conversation to anyone with a WiFi connection, changing how we digest runway shows in real time.
Brenda Hashtag
Brenda Hashtag (Brenda Weischer) has built a career at the intersection of social media cool and editorial clout. From 032c magazine’s Berlin offices to the front rows of Paris, she’s a constant presence with her signature black-and-white wardrobe and razor-sharp point of view. Brenda first made waves by founding Disruptive Berlin, a secondhand designer shop she launched in 2018 to shake up fashion’s obsession with the brand-new. These days, she might interview a top designer for a magazine column in the morning and drop a password to her vintage archive for followers by afternoon. In a culture of hype, Brenda’s influence feels refreshingly grounded: she’s shown that community, curation, and conscience can coexist with the luxury of it all.
