Prada is in, Balenciaga is out, and More on The Lyst Index

by SHOWstudio on 2 February 2023

The quarterly trend report has just released its final set of findings for 2022 with some some surprising shifts.

The quarterly trend report has just released its final set of findings for 2022 with some some surprising shifts.

It’s official, Prada is the hottest brand in the world. At least according to the quarterly trend report The Lyst Index. The innovative fashion technology company and premium shopping app utilises their own formula to track the hottest designers and brands based on searches on and off their platform, along with product views and sales. They also take into account social media engagement statistics over the course of three months as a way of tracking why brands fall in and out of favour. Tracking the tail end of 2022, the index’s Q4 reporting shows the biggest shift in its Top 20 list since they started in 2017.

Prada A/W 23 menswear

Whether you love him or hate him, the numbers don’t lie and since Raf Simons joined Prada as co-creative director in 2020 as co-creative director the brand has been climbing the ranks. For the first time in The Lyst Index’s history it’s taken the number one spot, proving we can’t get enough of the Belgian designer’s impact on the Italian brand. But it isn’t just Simons’ stamp that’s reason enough for this spike in activity. Within the last three months of 2022, Lyst notes a few key changes that helped propel Prada to be number one including the introduction of a sustainable jewellery line using recycled gold, and naming TikTok superstar Charli D’Amelia as the face of Prada Linea Rossa A/W 22.

Balenciaga x adidas S/S 23 campaign

The second key take-away from these Q4 findings is how controversy has affected Balenciaga. The maison ended the year with a slew of scandals due to unsavoury campaigns featuring children. With social media running wild with accusations that the brand is cosigning pedophilia, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that the brand has fallen out of favour, and for the first time since The Lyst Index launched in 2018, has not been featured on the Top 10 brand list.

The Lyst Index Q4 2022

Among the index’s breakout brands are 16Arlington, Alaïa and Mugler. Becoming the choice brands for today’s it-girls, 16Arlington has been a favourite for Hailey Bieber and Simone Ashley, Alaïa with Kaia Gerber and Margot Robbie, and Mugler with Kylie Jenner and popstar in the making Addison Rae. No one harnesses the power of celebrity quite like Mugler’s creative director Casey Cadwallder who recently closed out haute couture fashion week with the brand’s runway return featuring catwalk cameos by Arca and Ziwe. It’s no surprise then that Q4 saw searches for Mugler grow 49%.

For a closer look at what’s hot and not, check out The Lyst Index’s Q4 findings here.

Mugler A/W 23
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