Vicky Yang, a talent and digital strategy manager at the talent agency The Society Management, has picked up a few new tricks over the last several years.
While managing modeling jobs and schedules for the company’s roster of talent, Yang now also deals with the daily schedules, PR and brand contracts for the group of influencers (called “creatives” internally) she now represents.
Fashion week used to be cut-and-dry. Models were sent to casting calls; if selected, they would attend fittings, then hair and makeup tests and a rehearsal, then they’d walk a runway. Maybe they’d be stagnated, perched in a designer look at a presentation. This process would repeat until everyone flew to London for the next fashion week.
“With influencers, we have a lot more time to work with during fashion week, because they’re not going to hair and makeup hours before a show. They just show up,” said Yang.
While the bulk of Yang’s job still relays to traditional model management, she’s had to fit in time, effort and the skillset dedicated to working with the new influencer class that popped up in the front row of fashion shows in recent seasons. For Yang, the duty is more nuanced than just sending models to different shows, a job that typically follows the mantra of: the more, the better. Influencers have to work connections, deciding which brands they should be seen wearing and which shows they want to be photographed attending. At the center of those decisions is the question around whether or not social media followers will see the brand work as authentic or not.
“It’s such an overused word,” said Yang. “But it all comes down to brand association, and during fashion week, this is on high. It can be so accessible, so how do you provide a refreshing perspective?”
Yang joined the special NYFW edition of the Glossy Podcast to discuss how her role has changed in the digital age, how traditional modeling management has kept up and how the front row has evolved. Listen to the entire episode above, and stay tuned for more NYFW coverage on the Glossy Podcast coming up through next week.
