Study says Sheikh Hamdan is a fashion trendsetter and influencer

Before influencers took over the world of fashion, it was the world’s royal families that set the style agenda. But according to a new study, royals such as Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum are quickly regaining the fashion trendsetter title.

This comes from the Royal Fashion Report 2020, put together by search platform Lyst and DMR Group. It analysed the habits of more than nine million users, as well as followers and engagement rates for royals that are active on social media.

According to the study, fashion choices have a deeper meaning when it comes to members of a royal family, over celebrities and social media personalities. It seems they have significantly more internet clout, and that extends to what they choose to wear.

See the full list of most followed royal family members here. 

While engagement may be less than their influencer counterparts, apparently buyer follow-through (as in, what people see them where the public actually goes out and buys) is also much higher.

Sheikh Hamdan – or Fazza as he goes by on social media – by the way, has one of the most followed Instagram accounts in the Middle East and is the most-followed royal on the social media platform with 10 million followers. 

Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan comes in second place, with 6.2 million followers on Instagram. Third most popular was 20-year-old Achille of Greence, with 482,000 followers.

The Lyst study says part of this has to do with how these young royals are dressing. Their fashion choices are increasingly approachable; and a long way from traditional royal dress (in other words, they have ditched the crowns).

Earlier in the year, Lyst searches for baseball caps increased 24 per cent after Prince Harry was spotted wearing a no-logo cap in Los Angeles. A similar trend was seen after he wore a cashmere crewneck.

In other news, Sheikh Hamdan was married last year to Sheikha Sheikha bint Saeed bin Thani Al Maktoum. He was married in a joint-ceremony that included two of his brothers. The religious ceremony was kept private, and involved the signing of a marriage contract. He also recently unveiled Dubai’s latest real-life iron man stunt. 

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