Asia Pacific stars were the force behind Media Impact Value top-earning brands like Prada, Gucci and Fendi at Milan Fashion Week, reports Launchmetrics.

Milan Fashion Week (MFW) hosted more than 50 shows across a seven-day calendar this season. Shifting the fashion landscape, brands like Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Versace welcomed new chapters, while Silvia Venturini Fendi stepped down from Fendi’s creative helm. 

Between the awaited creative director debuts and unexpected departures, the event accrued $570.1 million in Media Impact Value, reports Launchmetrics. The tech and data company, recognized for comprehensive insights in fashion, luxury, and beauty, revealed its latest report on October 14. The document collects core data about the relevance of brands, voices and channels at Milan Fashion Week.

Media and Instagram shaped MFW’s conversations

Social media remains the top source for content-sharing at Milan Fashion Week, according to Launchmetrics. Among all platforms, the Meta-owned photo-sharing app dominated the tallies in Milan, representing 55% of the Media Impact Value (MIV) generated within the official calendar. MIV is the Launchmetrics proprietary machine learning algorithm that assigns a monetary value to each post, interaction, and media article to measure brand activity impact and marketing performance. 

Mirroring the tallies from New York and London Fashion Week, media led the Voice Mix, accounting for 61% of the event’s total MIV. Meanwhile, celebrity voices accrued 18%. Influencers and brands’ owned media followed suit, representing 11% and 9% respectively.

Although Instagram remains king among platforms, Launchmetrics remarks on the growing role that TikTok played this season for the media. The content belonging to media outlets on the app accounted for “unprecedented 65% of total MIV generated on the platform,” said the data company. According to Launchmetrics, this new digital dynamic places media outlets as “influencers in their own right” and not mere amplifiers of information.

South Korea on the rise 

Along with Italy and the United States, Korea topped the ranking of MIV-generating countries (regional performance). The Asian nation garnered $81.3 million in MIV. Per Launchmetrics, K-pop group ENHYPEN largely contributed to the result with “nearly 40 owned placements” that represented one third of the total MIV generated in South Korea. 

“Celebrity attendance played a defining role overall, with the Celebrity Voice accounting for 62% of South Korea’s MIV,” the data company added. “The Media Voice was the second strongest one, which positioned the country as third globally for media coverage.”

Milan Fashion Week’s Top Voices 

With South Korea rising as one of the key regions, it only made sense that attendants from the country led the Celebrity Voice ranks. Enhypen, which also topped the list of Overall Voices alongside legacy fashion publications and brands, generated $25.2 million in Media Impact Value. 

K-pop star Karina, a fixture in the Prada front row and member of the girl group aespa, took the second spot with $4.27 million in MIV. 

Meanwhile, Fashion Week newcomer Faye Peraya, a top actress in Thailand and a recurrent face on the international red carpets, placed third, accumulating $4.26 million in MIV through her appearance at the Max Mara show.

The fourth place went to pop sensation Bang Chan, leader of Stray Kids and ambassador for Fendi, who generated $3.7 million in MIV. Previous Launchmetrics data shared with the press also placed the K-pop icon as the author of Fendi’s top placement—an Instagram post that accrued $1.4 million in MIV within the first 48 hours following Milan Fashion Week’s wrap-up.

K-pop group NCT, regular names in Media Impact Value reports, rounded out the top 5, garnering $3.66 million in MIV.

Prada topped the brand ranking

In a season marked by heavy-hitting debuts and seismic shifts at the top level of creative suits, Italian legacy names: Prada, Gucci and Fendi dominated the brand ranking.

Driven by a celebrity-filled front row, Prada rose as the top brand at Milan Fashion Week. The Miuccia Prada and Raf Simmons-led house garnered $94.8 million in Media Impact Value. According to Launchmetrics, stars from the Asia Pacific region represented 94% of all celebrity MIV for the brand. 

K-pop septet Enhyphen, Prada brand ambassadors since 2023, authored  27% of the brand’s total MIV. Meanwhile, the top-performing placement related to the brand’s Spring/Summer 2026 unveiling came from Prada’s owned media and featured brand ambassador Karina. It accrued $566K in MIV. Similar to previous seasons, Karina’s presence on the front row drew significant attention. Combining her owned channels ($4.27 million) and additional coverage and echo mentions, the singer drove $11.3 million in MIV.

Gucci’s cinematic return 

Gucci, which welcomed creative director Demna and skipped a formal runway this season, took second place in the ranking. The Italian brand introduced a movie premiere format that garnered $78.3 million in MIV. A-listers such as Demi Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alia Bhatt, Serena Williams, Song Wei Long and Park Gyu-Young prompted coverage and mentions valued at millions. It was the presence of brand ambassador Jin, however, that drove 30% of the show’s MIV, through owned content and third-party echo. 

Jin’s owned placements (two Instagram posts of his attendance at the show) drove $2.4 million in MIV, placing him as the top celebrity voice at the Gucci SS26 show. He was also featured in Gucci’s top-owned media placement, a video of his arrival at the event. 

Italian brands swept the rankings

In addition to Prada and Gucci; Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana and Bottega & Veneta completed the Power Player Top 5. Fendi presented creative director Silvia Venturini Fendi’s last collection at the brand’s Milan headquarters to a star-studded audience featuring guests such as Bang Chan, Ren Meguro, Hillary Duff and Naomi Watts. 

Meanwhile, Dolce and Gabbana thrived on the social-media viral meeting of  Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour, linked through the supposed role that Wintour played in inspiring Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada. The front row moment drove 29% of the total show’s impact. Playing on the hype surrounding the movie’s sequel, the film’s stars Stanley Tucci and Simone Ashley garnered headlines worth $9.1M and $3.8M. The top celebrity voice featured at the event was NCT, which drove $1.5 million in MIV via 14 placements at Milan Fashion Week.

Finally, Louise Trotter’s Bottega and Veneta debut—attended by the likes of K-pop stars I.N and RM, Thai actor Dew and Hollywood A-listers Julianne Moore and Michelle Yeoh—garnered $34.8 million in MIV. 

For a deeper dive into the Launchmetrics’ algorithm and data, see the full report here.