Kamala Harris’ inauguration looks boost buzz around Black-led brands

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jan 22, 2021

According to a report from LaunchMetrics, the looks worn by Kamala Harris, the U.S.’s first female vice president, at this week’s Presidential Inauguration, stirred up significant interest around three Black-led American brands: Christopher John Rogers, Sergio Hudson and Pyer Moss.
 

LaunchMetrics tracks and measures engagement on online and social media platforms to calculate the Media Impact Value (MIV) generated for brands when celebrities wear their clothes.
 
Harris, who is also the U.S.’s first Black and first South-Asian vice president, chose to celebrate Black talent with her sartorial choices during the inauguration festivities.

Perhaps most notably, at Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony, she opted for a purple look designed by Brooklyn-based winner of the 2019 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, Christopher John Rogers. To date, this choice has generated a total MIV of $5.1 million for the brand, representing $4.1 million for online media and $1 million for social media.
 
For the evening, she donned a sleek black tux-and-dress combo by Sergio Hudson, generating an MIV of $4.4 million for the label, which was also worn by Michelle Obama earlier in the day. $4 million of this total was accounted for by online media, while the other $400,000 came from social media.
 
Prior to this, on the eve of the inauguration, Harris attended the Covid-19 memorial service at the National Mall in Washington wearing a tailored camel coat by Pyer Moss’ Kerby Jean-Raymond, who won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2018. This contributed a total MIV of $3.5 million to the Pyer Moss brand, made up of $1.6 million for online media and $1.9 million for social media.
 
Elsewhere at the inauguration, President Joe Biden generated an MIV of $3 million ($2.9 million in online media, $203,000 in social media) for Ralph Lauren with his suit choice at the ceremony, while First Lady Jill Biden whipped up buzz around Markarian and Jonathan Cohen.
 
Her cerulean overcoat and dress by Markarian creative director Alexandra O’Neill resulted in a $3.1 million MIV for the brand, representing MIVs of $1.6 million for online media and $179,000 for social media.
 
The first lady also wore a violet look by Jonathan Cohen to Tuesday’s Covid memorial service, generating an MIV of $1.8 million for the brand, $1.6 million of which came from online media, while the other $179,000 came from social media.
 
LaunchMetrics analyzed the MIV of the looks worn during the Covid memorial service and the Presidential Inauguration on January 19 and 20, 2021.