“The next time someone asks you for your signature scent, I want you to lie,” said aesthetics influencer Dr Ewoma in a TikTok captioned “PSA: Bring back gatekeeping” earlier this month. “Unless you want your perfume to turn into [popular scent] Baccarat Rouge, then you need to shut your mouth,” she continued in the video, which has nearly 40,000 likes.
She’s not alone. After transparency became the norm on social media — with ‘gatekeeping’ considered a cardinal sin — more people are keeping their favourite products, brands and best-kept secrets to themselves. A multitude of annual “In and Out” lists posted to TikTok in January declared gatekeeping as one of the defining ‘Ins’ of the year. The hashtag #gatekeeping has been used in 120,000 TikTok posts to date.
But what started as a discourse on how to reclaim personal style has evolved into a broader shift towards exclusivity, one that brands are not just acknowledging but actively embracing to build consumer loyalty this year.
Hermès was once an outlier. With no marketing department and limited production to keep even the wealthiest customers on waitlists, the brand has become one of luxury’s most coveted labels and is currently one of few luxury brands bucking the current slowdown. The epitome of gatekeeping, the brand was even sued by two American customers for withholding the opportunity to buy a Birkin bag. But today, brands that once chased mass-market engagement are also pivoting towards controlled exclusivity, signalling that less visibility might actually translate to more desirability.
During the Autumn/Winter 2025 edition of London Fashion Week, emerging labels like Aaron Esh, Feben and 16Arlington opted for intimate capsule dinner parties over traditional runway shows, embracing a more exclusive and personal approach to presenting their collections. This follows luxury labels pulling back from social media and traditional marketing to cultivate an air of mystique — The Row has banned phones at its runway shows since AW24, while Bottega Veneta left social media entirely in 2021, opting for limited-edition zines and out-of-home advertising.
Meanwhile, the modern-day streetwear space is harnessing gatekeeping as a way to cultivate strong communities that will elevate it to cult status, with labels like Corteiz and Osbatt popularising private Instagram accounts and invite-only Discord channels as the new frontier for product drops. Others are using gatekeeping to tap one or multiple niche communities within their consumer bases. For example, Represent’s dedicated performance line 247 has become the fastest-growing part of their business by aligning with niche fitness communities such as Hyrox through Whatsapp groups and Discord channels. Peachy Den, meanwhile, launched a “Close Friends” group on Instagram for their most loyal customers, offering exclusive previews of upcoming collections and allowing for input.
“Gatekeeping — or, in fact, calling for gatekeeping — is a lever to stem the tide of new information,” says Annie Corser, senior pop culture and media editor at trend forecasting agency Stylus. “But it is also because people miss the thrill of discovery based on their own cultural standing. Rather than being handed every new release, brand announcement, aesthetic or core by the algorithm, people want to encounter these because they’re in the know. It is their cultural nous that’s brought them to this cool thing — not the algorithm just passing it around to anyone.”
As TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance in the US, we unpack the impact it’s had on fashion, culture and our impression of ‘the algorithm’.
The challenge? Striking the perfect balance between broad exposure and cultural longevity. In a landscape where everything is just one viral post away from oversaturation, control, curation and a sense of mystery may be the ultimate currency. But as gatekeeping is adopted as a brand strategy, who gets to be on the inside? And how do brands ensure they don’t leave out potential loyalists?
The new era of ‘if you know, you know’
The commercialisation of fashion has flattened cultural distinctiveness. “Fashion has banked on celebrities, creating a fashion-celebrity industrial complex,” says Eugene Rabkin, founder and editor of fashion media platform StyleZeitgeist. “Celebrity marketing works because it taps into our deep-seated need for aspiration and conspicuous consumption.” But the cost is high. “Luxury is now a mass-market phenomenon, and fashion is pop culture,” continues Rabkin, adding that brands are scrambling to woo back the truly rich, who feel alienated by the massification of luxury, via gatekeeping.
App-based membership club Hypr offers exclusive events across music, art and streetwear for its subscribers, and Mytheresa curates luxury events for VICs. These experiences go beyond shopping, blending access to exclusive collections with cultural moments and elite gatherings. “By hosting invite-only events that tap into veins of sub-culture and develop community-centric audiences, luxury brands shift to become social coordinators that offer rare, immersive experiences, cementing client loyalty and fostering a sense of belonging,” says Alice Crossley, senior foresight analyst at strategic foresight consultancy The Future Laboratory.
“There’s also a new clubhouse model for luxury consumers to explore,” Crossley continues. She describes clubhouses as discreet, meticulously designed retail spaces that act as architectural marvels, free from overt branding or product displays. For instance, Gucci’s Salon concept combines the intimacy of a private home with cinematic grandeur, while Bottega Veneta’s Venice residence offers a closer look at its brand universe. Similarly, Zegna’s Villa Zegna in Shanghai exemplifies the rise of these tailored, immersive environments. For Crossley, these spaces are only set to grow.
It’s not just luxury. The latest streetwear disruptors have shown how powerful selective access can be, signalling a move away from the peak hypebeast era. Kelly Acheampong, founder of Undiscovered, an online platform covering emerging brands and streetwear culture, highlights that the most prominent emerging streetwear brands are leveraging digital communities as modern-day secret societies. He cites streetwear label Years of Tears by Sliksyd as a prime example, known for its highly sought-after Discord group, which carries a strong “if you know, you know” aura. “You could only find it if you actively went out your way to, or someone had to invite you,” he explains. London-based brand Loho Kur also leverages Discord to house its most loyal customers, offering its dedicated customers exclusive benefits such as early access, special discounts and private drops.
Curation over virality
“As Big Tech platforms become more politicised and saturated with ads, people are seeking out corners of the internet that feel more positive, curated and focused on discovery,” says Maya Torseke, digital marketing and growth specialist at Arca, a curation-focused social media app whose growth has been fuelled via invite-only codes. She adds that as smaller niche platforms start attracting users, brands will follow. “I’m surprised a brand hasn’t done an activation on [film-focused platform] Letterboxd or [literature-focused platform] Goodreads yet, I think there’s a lot of opportunity tapping into digital culture outside of traditional fashion spaces,” she says.
“As social media becomes just another facet of entertainment media, people are seeking out spaces to celebrate their niche and shared interests, and this is where they are making judgements about what’s cool or not,” agrees Corser. “Finding fans on their Discord servers, on Bluesky, Reddit — these are where brands can tailor gatekeeping to groups already defining themselves as distinct.” She adds that the platform to watch is Substack, with The RealReal already making moves, having launched its own newsletter this January, titled The Real Girl, aimed at deepening connections with dedicated resale shoppers.
It ties into a growing demand for true content creators — experts with deep knowledge in their fields, not just influencers selling aspiration through copy-paste OOTDs. In the early days of social media, it was celebrated for dismantling traditional gatekeepers, those in positions of power who dictated trends and decided what was ‘cool’. But instead of broadening horizons, algorithm-driven feeds have flattened culture into a monotonous stream dominated by the loudest voices. Now, there’s a renewed call for honed curatorial eyes who bring depth, perspective and value over sheer visibility.
Becky Malinsky, founder of popular Substack 5 Things You Should Buy, embodies this shift, bringing years of experience in fashion journalism, from The Wall Street Journal to Glamour and Lucky. “I use that background in my writing and curation so readers can trust my recommendations. They know I stand behind what I say,” says Malinsky. She recently partnered with Tory Burch over New York Fashion Week, allowing the brand to benefit from her highly engaged, invested community that deeply trusts her recommendations.
In today’s climate, especially amid the current slowdown, consumers crave more than fleeting hype. To drive actual purchases, they seek a sense of community and deeper storytelling that fosters emotional connection. Broad reach is essential for brand awareness, but strategic exclusivity cultivates loyalty, transforming passive viewers into dedicated advocates.
As this strategy of closed communities evolves, more extreme examples are cropping up. American art collective-cum-brand Mschf (whose Instagram bio fittingly says “DO NOT FOLLOW”), has pioneered unconventional product releases that require participation. Its “Angus the cow” experiment is the latest: instead of a typical product drop, Mschf purchased a real cow, named Angus, and pre-sold him as 1,200 burgers and four leather handbags, which he is set to become on 14 March 2026. However, if 50 per cent of pre-orders are cancelled, Angus will be spared. The tokens are currently reselling with a 900 per cent mark-up on StockX, as people aim to buy them and save Angus, proving the demand for multilayered storytelling.
“The next era of digital gatekeeping won’t just be about who can afford something — it’ll be about who is engaged enough to access it. Expect brands to create multilayered entry points, where loyalty, creativity and insider knowledge determine who gets in,” says brand strategist Karmen Tsang.
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