You might think that unfeasibly high, pumped-up platform boots by the London-based brand Naked Wolfe would only enjoy niche appeal. At first glance, they look more at home with Camden’s cybergoths or Catwoman wannabes than the mainstream.
On Wednesday it was revealed that the six-inch “Spice” platforms are officially the hottest item in the world, according to fashion shopping app Lyst. Each quarter, Lyst releases a “heat” index, ranking the fashion products that have generated the most sales, searches and views within its app, as well as social media engagement worldwide.
So how does a £300 Y2K-style Glam Rock boot that isn’t exactly suitable for the school run or office drinks hit the hotspot?
The answer may be TikTok. The video-sharing platform has “levelled the playing field”, said Katy Lubin, Lyst’s VP of Brand and Communications.
“What we’ve seen is lots of smaller niche brands entering the conversation. The fashion industry has always had a gatekeeper community,” Lubin said, recalling the iconic ‘cerulean’ scene in The Devil Wears Prada. In an acerbic monologue, editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly – a withering Meryl Streep – explains the traditional trend trajectory to her fashion-refusenik assistant, played by Anne Hathaway. The colour of her “lumpy, loose sweater … was selected for you by the people in this room”, Priestly says. Trends, she explains, are decreed by one small circle of fashion editors, and the rest of us are powerless to resist.
That was until TikTok changed the game. “That linear trajectory has been upended,” said Lubin. “Having this platform where people are free to post their own style has given different voices more sway with what becomes popular – the cycle has never been so unpredictable.”
The new fashion trajectory starts with a hashtagged TikTok video (#nakedwolfe has had 113.6m views). Then the “power of community” takes over, explained Cassandra Russell, TikTok’s head of fashion. “Before you know it, you have an army of fashionistas reviewing your product, and it just catches fire.”
In the case of platform boots, it helps that the shoes have been worn by a number of fashion-forward celebrities. During Paris Fashion Week last month, model Hailey Bieber teamed a pair of chunky black boots with a pink silky knee-length dress. In February Kourtney Kardashian posed in a pair of the boots and a strapless bodysuit from sister Kim’s shapewear line Skims. Spanish singer Rosalía has also been pictured in platforms.
Naked Wolfe co-founder Bronte Mance credits the pandemic for driving the success of the brand’s platform boots. “Consumers started to broaden their horizons and it gave brands like ours the opportunity to showcase our designs without having to have a traditional runway,” she said. At one point, they were selling over 5,000 pairs a week.
“I searched the Naked Wolfe hashtag and we had 1 million views, two weeks later we were at over 100 million,” Mance added.
It’s worth noting, said Lubin, that “not all of these trends translate into sales”. That’s a good thing, she added, “considering fashion’s relentless pace and the need for more conscious consumption. A lot of the fashion moments going viral on TikTok are more about dressing up and having fun than buying new stuff”. Many Gen Z shoppers, comprising 60% of TikTok users, are also unable to afford new designer clothing.
With its ability to publish instantly, combined with its global reach (the hashtag #fashion has had 141.1 billlon views), could TikTok be the new glossy fashion magazine for Gen Z?
“It’s definitely less rule-bound than the glossies,” said Russell, “and more accessible for younger audiences. By creating their own content, the community keeps it fresh in a way that other platforms can’t.”