Earlier
this summer it was hard to find a blog or news outlet that wasn’t talking about
the fact that Jourdan Dunn had been shot down from a Dior show because her
breasts were too large. How did we know this? Well, social media of course.
Dunn tweeted about the whole event (see screenshot above). So you can
understand where this might be a developing story that definitely has legs.
And, naturally, as the Wall Street Journal proved in it’s piece this
morning, this is most defintiely a story that has developed and is worth
watching as both social media and the fashion industry grow.
While
models are now using social media as their own personal daily press release, it
seems that their social audience is now being considered by brands when
deciding which models to cast in campaigns. When WSJ asked Ivan Bart,
Senior VP of IMG Models, about models and social media he commented “When
you walk into a brand and you say ‘what about her, what about him?’ they now
ask ‘how many followers do they have?’ “In fact, he goes on further to say
that the agency is now training their models to use social media.
Other model agencies in New York are following IMG’s social lead and
encouraging their models to showcase a well rounded lifestyle online. What
brand wouldn’t want to latch on to someone like Cara Delevingne, who has
millions of followers across her social networks? But models and brands alike
beware. As we’ve seen with Jourdan Dunn’s tweet above, this can either be a
rewarding exercise or an immediate cause for crisis management.
Now the numbers. For those interested the top model twitter accounts for the moment, here’s the a quick look at how some of the top ladies rank today…
Tyra Banks- 10million+
Gisele Bunchen – 1.4million
Cindy Crawford – 1.2 million
Kate Upton- 1.1 million
Cara Delevingne – 1 million
Alessandra Ambrosia – 765,000
Coco Rocha – 617,000
Brooklyn Decker – 522,000
Hilary Rhoda – 521,000
