Since making her Youtube debut back in 2017, Emma Chamberlain has racked up 11.2 million subscribers, alongside an even bigger 14.8 million Instagram followers. Her exponential growth in just 4 years has solidified her status as a fan favourite, but how did she go from quirky high schooler to Louis Vuitton ambassador?
We all love Emma for her fun, relatable and authentic nature. Her casual vlog style videos never started out as fashion-focused, but maybe that’s the selling point. From the first fashion week, she attended, to her latest, as an audience, we’ve watched her grow both her confidence and interest in fashion in real-time.
So, does that make her a self-made ‘it’ girl? Starting her career back when she was only sixteen — then, shortly after dropping out from high school — it could be expected that she hadn’t quite reached fashion maturity. But, as audience, money, and brand deals proliferated so did Emma’s impact on the fashion world. Effectively, she has grown up on camera, yet is still only twenty years old, proving she has a lot more to give! You could say, over the years, Emma has delivered a hit or miss approach to clothing, often opting for distinctive and colourful choices that you might not see every day. Maturing in her style, with a significant income, and societal expectations to exceed, Emma’s present place in fashion is certainly cemented and has been by her own passion and interest.
It’s a well-known fact that she’s an ambassador for Louis Vuitton – appearing at their shows since Paris Fashion Week 2019 after being sent via an agreement with both YouTube and the house itself. This makes a lot of sense when you also think about house partnerships with more traditional celebrities — singers, actors, reality stars etc. The starlets of Gen-Z originate from social media. In fact, both Emma and TikTok star Charli D’amelio appeared side by side in Louis Vuitton’s footwear campaign earlier this year.
What I can say for sure about Emma’s passage from Youtuber to high fashion is that she’s certainly been aided by her ode to keeping things real. It feels as if we’re watching someone discovering their own place in fashion, rather than a product of the fashion industry itself.
