Kylie Jenner & Kim Kardashian West Named Top Two Global Fashion Influencers

Global search platform Lyst released their annual “Year in Fashion” report this week, which ranks the success of brands, trends, products, and celebrity influencers. Sitting at the top of the platform’s list of most influential celebrities was Kylie Jenner, the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, followed by her sister, American television personality Kim Kardashian West.

To rank celebrities, Lyst “monitored the spikes in demand and social media mentioned generated by 50 global superstars during the course of 2018 by looking at search and sales responses to some of their most talked-about outfits,” according to the 2018 “Year in Fashion” report.

Jenner ranked at number one by driving over 2 million searches after sharing her Adidas tracksuits, Alexander Wang minidresses, Dior sunglasses, and Victoria’s Secret underwear on social media. Additionally, the pink mini dress that she wore for her 21st birthday party caused searches for “pink dresses” to increase 107 percent within 48 hours.

Although Kardashian West has more Instagram followers than Jenner (Kardashian West has 120 million, while Jenner has 119 million), Jenner’s ever-growing beauty brand, Kylie Cosmetics, likely had an impact on searches as well, Vogue reported.

Kardashian West came in second place, boosted by the fact that she already received the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s first-ever Influencer Award in June. In 2018, Kardashian West starred in a number of campaigns for Yeezy, her husband Kanye West’s brand, as well as Calvin Klein and her own beauty brand, KKW Beauty. The entrepreneur popularized bike shorts, neon swimsuits, and retro logos.

In February, Kardashian West posted a photo of herself wearing head to toe Fendi clothing covered in the brand’s “Zucca” monogram. The photo boosted searches by 16 percent month to month.

The third top influencer of 2018 was Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. Her outfits drove several searches throughout the year as fans tried to copy the looks. Many of Markle’s daytime outfits led searches for “boat neck” and “tuxedo dresses.” Her wedding dresses boosted searches for Givenchy and Stella McCartney. Lyst predicted that if Markle wears a designer, the searches for that brand will increase by over 200 percent within the following week.

Markle is a proud supporter of eco-friendly sneaker brand Veja, which helped searches for the brand increase by 113 percent. This led Veja to take the number one spot on Lyst’s report of 2018’s top Insta brands.

Lyst’s report also named the year’s top brands and logos. The data revealed that Supreme and Champion were the top two most-wanted logos this year, HYPEBAE reported. The Champion logo was searched for over 3,000 times per month. Prada, Fendi, and Gucci also made the list, with Gucci’s logo belt being the hottest product of the year.