“The secret to social media is not thinking about it too much ”
Chiara Ferragni
Whether the Fashion Weeks take place in New York, Milan, Paris or London and editors, celebrities and fashion buyers from all over the world come to see the new collections, a front row seat is always reserved for her: Chiara Ferragni. Ten years ago she uploaded the first pictures of her daily outfits on Flickr, today an average of half a million followers like every Instagram photo she posts. Her fashion blog has turned into a global retail business, with 17m followers on Instagram, equivalent to the population of the Netherlands. What began as a hobby now brings her cooperations with Pomellato and Levi’s and makes her the most successful influencer in the world.
Who’s Chiara Ferragni?
Chiara Ferragni was born on 7 May 1987 in Cremona in northern Italy. She is the first daughter of Marco Ferragni and Marina Di Guardo. A few years later she becomes an older sister to Francesca and then to Valentina.
Her mother works in the Blumarine store, which makes Chiara develop an interest in fashion at an early age. Nevertheless, she decides to pursue a different path and begins her law studies at Milan’s elite University Bocconi.
Everything starts with 10 euro
Chiara is a popular girl who likes to take pictures of herself. Social networks are still fledging at the time and Instagram is still a distant melody of the future, but Chiara draws attention and wins her first fans. She surfs the web and discovers that the very first fashion blogs are being created in the USA. In October 2009, she creates her own website, The Blonde Salad, for an investment of only 10 euros. Chiara Ferragni turns blogging into a high-profile business. In 2011 she launches her own shoe collection Chiara Ferragni Collection, which is sold out within a few days. At the moment, you can purchase her signature glittery shoes with the popular eye symbol and matching mobile phone cases in over 3,000 stores and pop-up shops worldwide.
The gift that keeps on giving
In 2014, her company has a turnover of more than six million euros and she becomes an alpha example of an influencer. She wins numerous awards for the world’s best blog, cooperates with countless companies and her own collection is pouring more and more money into the till. Chiara Ferragni is no longer simply an influencer, but a fashion icon of her generation that sits in the first row side by side with Sarah Jessica Parker while attending fashion shows. By 2016, Ferragni has been on the Forbes 30 under 30 lists twice, the subject of a Harvard Business School study and on 55 magazine covers.
Her retail site makes €30m in combined revenues per annum. But she doesn’t rest on her laurels. At the beginning of 2019, Ferragni begins to build up a second mainstay alongside fashion: she steps into the beauty business. Together with the make-up artist Manuelle Mameli, she hosts make-up master classes called Beauty Bites. In June of the same year, she launches her first own beauty products as part of a collection together with the luxury brand Lancôme.
The wedding of the year
On September 1, 2018 the time has come: Chiarra Ferragni ties the knot with Federico Leonardo “Fedez” Lucia, an Italian rapper in a beautiful ceremony at Dimora delle Balze, a lavish 19th-century palace in Italy. It’s a wedding spectacle composed perfectly from A to Z. She and Fedez have even their own hashtag, #Ferragnez that generates overall more than 1 million impressions, 67 million engagements on Instagram and, in the span of four days, a media value higher than Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding. She wears three wedding couture dresses designed by Dior. Chiara’s couture gowns reportedly earned Dior what could have cost them $5.2 million in digital advertising.
Keeping up with the Ferragnis
The photos on Chiara Ferragni’s profile include not only fashion outfits captured on the streets of the most beautiful cities in the world, or make-up selfies, but also posts showing her while playing with her beloved French bulldozer – Matilda, striking poses with her two-year-old son Leo, having real Italian gatherings at the family table with pizza and pasta.
Everyone in Ferragni’s family takes part in it. Her younger sisters Valentina (who has 2.8m Instagram followers) and Francesca (834k followers), and her mother Marina (428k followers) have all secured brand-sponsored deals to showcase their lives as well-heeled Milanese. Building a cast of characters around The Blonde Salad brand is an excellent way to diversify brand partnerships. Valentina Ferragni, for instance, attracts a younger audience.
Authenticity wins
Ferragni insists that she doesn’t have a social media strategy. She says she posts intuitively. “If I feel I want to do something, I do it. This is a strength in this world where to be authentic wins,” she argues. Indeed, unlike many of her fellow influencers, the brands she is wearing are rarely tagged on Ferragni’s posts and she almost never mentions brands in her captions. It seems that Ferragni believes her success lies in her authentic connection with her audience and the potential for audience growth. She posts about six times a day on her feed and uploads numerous Instagram stories daily where she shares with the followers her travels, mom’s duties, thoughts and fashion tips. Certainly, Ferragni herself is one of the most influential figures in the industry, constantly being photographed as she jets around the world. She’s a digital entrepreneur. Through the use of social media, she managed to build both fashion and digital empire like no one before.
Digital Storryteling 