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We take a look at some of the most popular fashion accounts to follow on Instagram – including Check The Tag. Photo: Instagram/@checkthetag

Who are the top fashion Instagram influencers? 4 to watch, including a retired Chinese doctor and a data scientist

  • Some of the most popular fashion accounts to follow on Instagram belong to influencers who do more than just post outfits of the day and street style photos
  • A 73-year-old retired Chinese doctor turned influencer who walked the runway for Miu Miu is one; another is a Harvard graduate with an interest in data science
Fashion

Are you looking for style inspiration on Instagram? The hottest accounts to follow on the social media platform go beyond posting #ootd (outfits of the day), quiet luxury looks or street style photos – they offer their own takes on fashion.

In recent years, the way fashion has been documented has changed.

The now-dormant industry-insider account @fashionweekfrog poked fun at the ins and outs of fashion week via Kermit the Frog memes.

Various fan accounts – @gallianoarchive, @prada.archive, @mcqueen_vault – pay nostalgic tribute to fashion houses.

Third-party accounts can act as de facto voices for some brands – @newbottega for Bottega Veneta, for example, because creative director Mathieu Blazy has chosen not to have an official Instagram account as part of the label’s marketing strategy.

These are some of the fashion accounts that we think are worth following:

Qin Huilan caused a sensation during Paris Fashion Week in March. Photo: Instagram/@i_doctor_qin

@i_doctor_qin

Qin Huilan, a 73-year-old retired doctor turned influencer, caused a sensation during Paris Fashion Week in March when she walked the runway for Miu Miu.

Qin, who worked in a hospital for the entirety of her professional career, often placed practicality over style when it came to fashion – since, no matter what you wear to work, there is always a doctor’s coat covering everything up.

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It was only following her retirement and relocation to Shanghai to be closer to her younger son that she embarked on a more fashionable journey.

It began with borrowing jackets from her son’s wardrobe; a big fan of Prada, he had a significant collection of them. He began acting as his mother’s style adviser.

It was not long before the mother-and-son duo took to the streets of Shanghai, where they would photograph her in a selection of looks from past seasons.

A look at Qin’s Instagram page. Photo: Instagram/@i_doctor_qin

Qin has built an online following who are obsessed with the way she styles Prada – for her, age is no barrier as she regularly wears shorts, miniskirts and heels.

At the 2023 Pradasphere II exhibition in Shanghai, where Qin was spotted wearing a gold satin Prada jacket, a casting call came in on Instagram from industry powerhouse Ashley Brokaw, who was looking for interesting faces to feature in a Miu Miu 2024 fashion show. It was a true Cinderella moment.

Qin posted after the show: “Before the age of 70, I only cared about my patients as a doctor. Who would have thought that at the age of 70, I would be standing here on the runway today?”

 

@databutmakeitfashion

Founded by Madé Lapuerta, this account takes something decidedly unchic – numbers – and applies it to current fashion trends.

Some of its revealing finds: skinny jeans may be uncool but interest in them actually grew 50.2 per cent in January 2024; quiet luxury may be the buzzword du jour, but the popularity of logos rose seven per cent in the autumn/winter 2023 season.
The creator of the @databutmakeitfashion Instagram account, Madé Lapuerta is a Harvard University graduate. Photo: LinkedIn

A Harvard University graduate, Lapuerta wants to bring “logic and reasoning to something inherently subjective”, as she said in an online interview with Vogue.

Lapuerta injects humour into her posts by presenting facts and figures through memes that touch on pop-culture classics such as Gossip Girl, Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada.

Most recently, she “scraped” X (formerly known as Twitter) to see who “really won the Superbowl”, ranking the American football players’ arrival outfits. The answer, by the way, is San Francisco 49ers player Christian McCaffrey with his oversized Hermès Birkin bag.

For those who want to know the colour of the season, according to this data scientist it is olive green – which is trending up 19 per cent.

Beka Gvishiani at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2022 in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Getty Images

@stylenotcom

Founded in 2021 by Beka Gvishiani, then an industry outsider with no access to fashion shows, this account’s early posts documented what he described to The New York Times as “stuff that no one talks about and is at some point kind of stupid”.

The account’s name, Style Not Com, is a play on Style.com, a now-defunct website that aficionados went to for the latest images from fashion catwalk shows, show reviews and casting information.

 

Gvishiani’s account started to pick up traction, earning him invitations to events. Now he is a fashion show regular, sitting in the front row, from where he updates his followers on venues, first looks and notable happenings.

The tone he maintains is consistently positive and upbeat, and often he celebrates behind-the-scenes figures in the industry. For example, Jonathan Ros, the PR director at communications agency Lucien Pagès, gets a call-out on his birthday.

Although he rarely shows photos or videos of the events he describes – for “Pharrell attending the Dior show right now” you will have to look elsewhere for photographic proof – Gvishiani’s content is increasingly valued as an industry news source for its peppy headlines.

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@checkthetag

If you want to know which celebrity is wearing what right away, chances are Check The Tag will have all the answers.

The account was started in 2016 by Brazilian sisters Kathleen and Wenny Miozzo, based in Rio de Janeiro, who worked as translators. Later, they were joined by Thomas Monks, based in the United States. The trio record all the looks worn by celebrities, paired, where possible, with an image of the same look from a catwalk show.

 

Although their following is not huge, a number of industry heavyweights come to them for their speed and precision – often jewellery, bags and shoes are all credited along with the main outfit.

To optimise their efficiency, the account has gradually built up relationships with brands, as well as with power stylists such as Law Roach, Karla Welch and Kate Young, who often send credits ahead of time for their clients.

Just do not expect to come here for any commentary about the looks beyond an annual round-up of the best ones. “We are cataloguing fashion,” Kathleen Miozzo said in an interview.

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