Instagram has a pretty major moment to celebrate today: It just surpassed 500 million active monthly users, 300 million of which use the app daily. Growth has been particularly substantial over the past two years — Instagram’s monthly user base more than doubled since 2014. The social network dug up some fascinating fashion-centric stats for Refinery29 in honour of the milestone.
First up, the answer to the query you’ve probably been mulling over for some time now: what makes not just a great #OOTD, but the top #OOTD? Shay Mitchell knows what’s up, apparently — the Pretty Little Liars star had the top #OOTD from 2015, out of 82 million #OOTDs that have been posted since Instagram's inception. (The top post is measured based on having the most interaction, meaning likes as well as comments.) Mitchell’s pic, below, shows her perched on a ledge and is captioned with a quip about L.A.’s rapidly-shifting weather. It got the actress (who’s currently got 12.6 million followers) nearly 450K likes and over 3K comments.
More recently, Victoria Justice had the top #OOTD of the past few months with the below shot from earlier this month, which accrued 212K likes for the actress and singer, who’s got a following of 8.5 million at the moment.
Five other top-performing Insta #OOTDs were posted by the likes of Hollywood actress Bella Thorne, Bollywood star Deepika Padukone, Russian YouTube sensation Kate Clapp, fellow YouTuber Connor Franta, and yet another YouTube-famous name, Bethany Mota. Check out these images along with other high-performing OOTDs, below.
Beyond the all-important #OOTDs, Instagram’s reps shared some compelling stats on the platform's presence at fashion shows: 42 million people had 283 million interactions during the fall '16 shows (encompassing NYFW, LFW, MFW and PFW shows), compared to 25 million people having 140 million interactions just one season prior, during the spring '16 shows. There you have it: concrete stats to back up that feeling that nearly everyone in the front row (and every row behind it) is watching the catwalk action through their smartphone screens — and, of course, promptly Instagramming the best snaps.
Other pivotal fashion moments for the app since its inception in 2010, according to Instagram reps, include: Prabal Gurung joining the app shortly after its 2010 launch (and way before many other designers), Diane von Furstenberg's pre-Oscars bathroom selfie circa 2013, and Alexander Wang's H&M campaign stealthily debuting on the platform — in the middle of the night, no less — in 2014, as well. Also of note: Tommy Hilfiger’s fall '16 InstaPit, where bloggers and other Instagram-famous folks got prime vantage points during the show and Misha Nonoo eschewing a physical showing in favour of a spring '16 InstaShow, shared exclusively on the social app. Fashion people have also utilised Instagram as a creative resource: Dries van Noten actually sourced an illustrator, @buttonfruit, to hand-paint their fall '16 invites.
The platform's role within the industry was further solidified (for the few in the biz that hadn't jumped on the bandwagon yet) thanks to its CFDA Media Award win last year; it was the first time the accolade wasn’t given to a particular person in media. Meanwhile, labels like Moschino and Stella McCartney have done “InstaShoots,” in which collections were specifically shot for and posted on the network; plus, there have been a slew of expressly Instagram-friendly runway feats over the past few years, like Opening Ceremony’s fall '14 collection featuring a chocolate wall and a Great Dane traipsing down the runway at Hood By Air’s spring '16 show. Fashion people (finally) making it onto the ‘gram recently include Tim Blanks and Suzy Menkes joining in 2015, and Donatella Versace and Alber Elbaz joining this year.
But back to those all-important #OOTDs: What do you think about the top looks (and the particular celebs donning them)? Let us know in the comments below.
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