The convergence of luxury and streetwear plays out in the latest installment of the Lyst Index.
The quarterly report from the global fashion search platform sheds light on which brands and items consumers are searching for online, and denim darlings Vetements, Virgil Abloh’s Off-White and Kanye West’s Yeezy brand are among the street fashion heavy-hitters to rank on the index’s list of the 10 hottest brands of Q1.
The labels sit alongside luxury houses like Balenciaga (No. 1) and Gucci (No. 2), both of which have taken a recent liking to streetwear styling. Balenciaga’s ‘Speed’ trainer with a sock upper and Gucci’s striped sport slide were the most-searched items in the quarter, according to Lyst.
Vetement climbed two spots to No. 3, somewhat contradicting High Snobiety’s controversial article in March that called the Zurich-based brand overhyped and said it was losing out to Balenciaga. In the article, an unnamed retailer told High Snobiety, “We’ve also heard from Vetements’ own internal team that the best designs were sent to Balenciaga. It seems like the second-grade designs are left behind at Vetements.”
Vetement’s creative director Demma Gvasalia shot back with an Instagram post that read, “Vetements does not support wannabe journalism based on lies and gossip… Fashion is not about hype, nor about useless gossip or opportunistic pseudo journalism.”
Off-White dropped one place to No. 4, but the brand had two key moments during the quarter, Lyst said. One was launching the affordable ‘For All’ collection in January, and the other was news of Abloh’s new gig at Louis Vuitton, which led to a one-day 10 percent jump in searches for Off-White.
Stone Island, Givenchy, Moncler, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino filled out the rest of Lyst’s Index. Yeezy inched its way up one spot to No. 9 during the quarter, but Lyst said it expects bigger results from the brand in the coming months.
“With Kanye West’s self imposed hiatus coming to a close, Yeezy is back,” Lyst said. Streetwear insiders, according to Lyst, believe the brand could re-enter the ‘Top 3 Hottest Brands’ before the year is out, Lyst said.
