The Fashion Guide To Instagram

As head of fashion partnerships at Instagram, Eva Chen knows better than most the value that a great account can bring to a brand. Her own trajectory to her coveted current post has set her up perfectly to bring this new social-media way of storytelling to the masses. As the former editor of American fashion magazine Lucky, she is used to working with images and words to create a mood and lifestyle that people want to buy into and, most importantly, making it accessible.

"The thing about Instagram and fashion is that is has absolutely taken down the sense of the velvet rope and has pulled the curtain aside on the entire experience that used to be for a select 100 people in the world. Now it is there for millions of people to consume," she explained to us over tea during LFW. "I know how I shop and how I am inspired to buy things, and the majority of it is from Instagram. I look at people like Yasmin Sewell and Leandra Medine from the Man Repeller, as well as the countless models that have really cool street style for inspiration all the time."

"If you had asked me growing up what a stylist does, or what a magazine editor does, I would have had no clue - how do you research something like that when you are a first-born child of an immigrant who only grew up knowing doctor, engineer and lawyer as careers?" she said. "If you think of all the young people out there who can now see what Sarah Harris or Pat McGrath or Charlotte Tilbury or a PR does, I see it as a means of fashion research."

Research, yes, but also conversation. Chen is a keen advocate of engaging with followers and sees it as a useful tool - or an "in-house focus group" as she puts it - that fashion designers can use effectively as the industry embarks on a mass shake-up with the harnessing of social-media statistics and consumer satisfaction taking top priority.

"There are different ways to show and tell through Instagram," she explained. "What's right for one designer will be very different for another designer and everyone's going to be figuring things out, but it's a great opportunity to use it for feedback. For these brands to ask their millions of followers what they think, I believe that's the new frontier of Instagram. It sounds basic, but it's literally as simple as asking a question."