Wonyoung, Minnie, Momo: Understanding Miu Miu’s Soaring Popularity in Asia

Miu Miu’s rapid revenue climb may come as little surprise to those who understand the brand’s celebrity alignment in Asia, its most significant market.

In the first quarter of 2024, retail sales at Miu Miu were up 89 percent, lifting the performance of the Prada Group, which posted an 11 percent total company sales increase to 1.18 billion euros.

For the total company, Asia-Pacific, which includes China and South Korea, was up 10 percent to 396 million euros. Sales in Japan climbed 29 percent to 145 million euros. At constant exchange rates, sales in Japan jumped 46 percent.

Miu Miu has been named the hottest brand in Lyst‘s quarterly ranking several times for “a slew of viral products, celebrity-packed runway moments, hyped collaborations with New Balance and Church’s, and buzzy campaigns starring ‘It’ girl after ‘It’ girl, from Emma Corrin and Kendall Jenner to Gigi Hadid and Ethel Cain,” Lyst has said.

In Asia, the brand has orchestrated a web of buzzy celebrities as brand ambassadors to adapt Miuccia Prada‘s visionary runway ideas into tangible scenarios for luxury customers in the region who might not be familiar with Corrin or Cain.

In China, the brand constantly dresses emerging starlets such as Lexie Liu, Zhao Jinmai and Qiu Tian, as well as established stars like Dong Jie and Kara Wai.

For the brand’s fall 2024 show, it even invited Qin Huilan, a doctor-turned-Prada superfan to walk for the brand alongside Hadid and Kristin Scott Thomas.

But the brand’s most significant point of influence is in South Korea, where it harnesses the global influence of K-pop by tapping Momo Hirai, a Japanese member of the girl group Twice, as a brand ambassador. She has 14.65 million followers on Instagram.

Girl group (G)I-dle’s member Nicha Yontararak from Thailand, better known as Minnie, and girl group IVE’s member Wonyoung Jang, who is of Chinese descent, are Miu Miu brand ambassadors as well.

Their popularity goes far beyond the border of South Korea. Momo’s influence in Japan, as well as Minnie’s popularity in Southeast Asia, help Miu Miu tap into these regions.

With more than 12 million followers on Instagram, Jong has amassed a huge online following in China as well.

Bernstein’s Luca Solca noticed earlier in the year that Miu Miu has risen swiftly in China’s social media boxing ring, “notably excelling on user-generated platforms such as Xiaohongshu and WeChat.”

On China’s popular social commerce platform Xiaohongshu, Jang’s name has been mentioned more than 3 billion times, more than Blackpink members Lisa, Jisoo and Rosé. Only Jennie has more mentions than Jang.

A clip of Jang twirling (not in Miu Miu) during a performance went viral on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. It led to IVE, the girl group she is a part of, opening an official account on the platform last week.