The live-action Barbie film debuted last July to critical and financial acclaim. Achieving an all-time box office record for a non-superhero movie at opening, it went on to gross over USD$1.4 billion worldwide. Critics praised the film for exploring philosophical themes while balancing it with dazzling humor and the performances of the leads, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

Strangely, Barbie’s effect was evident a year before the film’s debut, attributable to what fashion experts called “Barbiecore.” According to Lyst’s Year in Fashion 2022, online searches for pink clothing shot up by 400% after images of Robbie in a pink dress circulated on TikTok in June of that year. Some brands with similar styles also reported increased views on their clothing lines on social media.

Barbiecore is one of many trends where celebrities’ fashion senses influence those of their fans and the public. These days, they don’t have to be names in Hollywood to influence fashion decisions. Anyone with a huge enough following in other media can do it.

Triple trickle

If you were to enumerate every instance of celebrities influencing fashion choices, you wouldn’t see the end of it. Anyone can talk all day about how Paris Hilton turned tracksuits into a defining fad of 2000s fashion or how 2014 was the “year of pizza fashion.”

Yes, people wore pizza-themed clothing. Thank Beyonce.

Multiple studies suggest that fashion trends move across social classes. The most common is the trickle-down effect, first coined in the 19th century by German legal scholar Rudolf von Jhering. In his works about cultural diffusion, Jhering noted that a trend is first adopted by the upper class and moves down until every facet of society has adopted it.

There’s also the trickle-up effect, described in 1974 by Paul Blumberg, emeritus of sociology at the City University of New York in Queens. His works suggested that fashion that’s popular with the masses will diffuse to the higher classes. For example, the workman’s t-shirt found its way into upper-class fashion thanks to movies like “Rebel Without a Cause” popularizing it.

The last is the trickle-across effect, where every social class simultaneously experiences the same fashion trend. There’s no movement across classes because the trend spreads among members of the same class. Men’s rings, for instance, can be as attractive to them as women’s, so men across classes will endeavor to wear one to augment their appearance.

Rise of influencers

One interesting point about the movement of fashion trends across classes is that it’s reciprocal. Celebrities may influence the public, but the public holds sway as to who gets to be a celebrity. The reciprocity applies to the kind of fashion they wear.

It’s easy to think that the movement is always downward, but it’s not always the case. In the book “Fashion: From Concept to Consumer,” Gini Stephens Frings explained that consumer demand drives the industry, and celebrities don’t comprise the majority. If public interest in fast-food-inspired fashion is at an all-time high, clothing brands will be remiss to pay it no heed.

This has been the case for decades, and it’s unlikely to change in the face of increasing use of social media. People won’t have to wait for the latest edition of showbiz magazines when they can follow their favorite celebrities on Instagram, TikTok, or Pinterest, among other platforms. Content will come trickling into their feeds almost instantly.

More importantly, social media establishes a more direct connection between celebrities and their fanbases. Giovanna Silvestre, whose Instagram handle @confusedgirlla has more than 400,000 followers, said social media isn’t a mere tool anymore but a core necessity in every industry because most interactions now occur online.

Silvestre is among the millions of influencers whose brand and content propagate social media. Studies have shown that most consumers rely on word-of-mouth from friends and family when deciding. But as fashion choices are endless, influencers help them narrow their options.

Unlike traditional celebrities, influencers don’t necessarily need millions of followers to enjoy fame. A micro-influencer or someone with fewer than 100,000 social media followers can still influence consumer decisions if its content sticks to a niche.

A good case is Joel Moore-Hagan, whose Instagram handle @moorehisstyle currently has over 85,000 followers. Describing himself as a creator who’s “blurring the lines between menswear and womenswear,” he’s become an authority in men’s fashion. As such, it won’t be a surprise if people look to him for advice on mixing and matching clothes or even getting the right ring size.

Conclusion

Celebrities—Hollywood or online—and the public share a mutual relationship. The public helps propel a personality to fame, and that personality influences the public’s decisions in a host of aspects, fashion included. Both parties influence each other and will continue to do so in an era where most discourses happen on social media. 

There’s no reason this arrangement will change anytime soon. Celebrities will continue to exist as long as humans look up to role models.