Fashion Icon Chiara Ferragni Brings Instagram Expertise to Amazon’s ‘Making the Cut’

Making the Cut pulled out all the stops. Not only does the show feature established designers that are a cut above the rest, it takes them on a whirlwind fashion expedition from New York to Paris to Tokyo while putting their next-level looks in front of a panel of legit fashion icons. Come on, did you expect anything less than the best from Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn?

One such fashion icon is Chiara Ferragni, an Italian fashion blogger who’s been at the forefront of the industry’s digital revolution from the very beginning. From running a blog to pioneering fashion’s Instagram takeover, Ferragni knows the industry inside and out and brings a thoroughly modern perspective to the panel. Now she’s giving out tips in front of more than just her 19 million Instagram followers; she’s helping shape the careers of up-and-coming designers on Making the Cut as well.

Ahead of her big debut as a judge in week three of Making the Cut’s run on Amazon, Decider chatted with Ferragni via phone about everything from joining this all-star cast to hanging out with robots and Heidi Klum in Tokyo.

Decider: How’d you get involved with Making the Cut? Did Heidi Klum call you up personally?

Chiara Ferragni: No, she didn’t call me personally. I’d met her once only before. While she was doing Project Runway, I was a guest judge for one of the episodes before, back in 2014. But I met with the [Making the Cut] production company and they were telling me about this new competition reality show that they were doing, and Heidi and Tim were involved and they were interested in making me one of the judges. So from there we had a lot of different meetings and then they chose me to be one of the judges. So that was really awesome.

How did this experience differ from being a guest judge for one week on Project Runway?

It was totally different because on Project Runway I was only working for one day back in New York. That was also such a long time ago, and being a judge for Making the Cut was so much better, obviously because I had such a bigger role. It was so nice to be able to film in so many different cities. I couldn’t make it to Paris, so I was there for the episodes in Tokyo and then for the finale in New York. And it was so nice. I think they did it very differently from Project Runway and it’s great because its not only a fashion show. It’s not only about the fashion, but its about traveling as well, and the cities and how you get inspired by those places.

What was it like filming in Japan, traveling with the fellow judges and seeing the sights?

It was amazing. We had a lot of fun. A lot of the nights we went to dinner together. Heidi and I also filmed at the Robot Restaurant, which was super fun. We saw these guys dressing up as robots and doing all this choreography and stuff. It was nice.

Tokyo’s one of my favorite places on Earth, so it was really beautiful to be able to film there. We were there for like 10 days but we filmed for four days, so we also had a lot of extra time to explore the city a little bit more.

Did you have a favorite moment in Tokyo, a runway show or look from a designer?

The last episode we shot in Tokyo, it was in this harbor, which was really nice. And we were on the top of a deck and it was so incredible. The other days it had been raining. The weather in Tokyo was pretty miserable most of the time, but that night was perfect because—I don’t know how they could do it if it was raining like the other days, but it was nice. After that, before judging, we went to dinner all together and we had such a good time. We went to this very traditional Japanese restaurant and then we were laughing about it because we were smelling so much because they cooked in front of us. So we were all smelling like food when we got to the studio. but it was one of the greatest memories I have from that trip.

How did filming in Tokyo differ from filming in New York?

The vibes were so different. In New York, we only filmed the last two episodes so we were there for less time. And obviously New York has such a different energy. I love it as well. For the finale, we filmed on this rooftop from, I don’t know, from 8 p.m. or something and we then went back in the studio until like 4 a.m. or something like that. So we were super tired on the rooftop. It was the end of August, so it was supposed to be warm, but it was so freezing cold and we were all wearing very nice dresses because it was the finale, so we were all freezing cold. But the whole experience was absolutely great.

You get to bring a whole new perspective to the show too, the Instagram side. Instagram is such a huge deal in the world of fashion now. What advice did you give the designers in regards to how they can better work Instagram into their business models?

They always have to keep social media in mind whatever they do. The clothes you design, the audience you are trying to talk to and stuff, they have to make it very Instagrammable. It’s very important. We talked about it on the show so much, about the colors. There was one of the competitors, Esther—all her collection was always black, and I get it. I like a lot of her things but we were trying to tell her—I was the first one but so many other judges would agree with me that it was very difficult on social media to only show you know black clothes because they don’t stand out so much as much as colorful ones or print ones. So I think it’s very important to, of course, you have your aesthetic and stuff, but you also have to be able to tell a story for the brand. That’s what people buy into so much more. They’re very interested in what’s behind a fashion piece and how you can wear it, but also what the brand stands for. It’s really important to have a certain image and value social media because now its the future of most of the businesses and fashion as well.

What’s it been like watching Instagram grow into this dominant force in the industry over the past decade?

it has changed drastically, for me for the better because I’ve always been doing what I do on my own social media. Back 10 years ago when I started, actually almost 11 years ago—when I started in 2009, it was mostly, for me, publishing on a blog. So whatever I post now on Instagram—that’s my life and what I wear and what I do—that was, at the time, on my blog and I would update it everyday. And now it has changed so much because social media changed the rules for everybody, because everybody started being obsessed with followers and gaining recognition online and getting great numbers.

Before, when I used to have a blog, it was only for people that really wanted to share but so many others couldn’t really understand why I would [write a blog], you know? They couldn’t understand the power behind it. It’s been great because that’s what I’ve always been doing and it’s so great that now people recognize those numbers and people are so trained to these numbers and to what you do and to your specific voice and even the way you talk about things. It’s way more natural than maybe a magazine or a different show and stuff and then people now really, really get [social media]. They really get this new way of communication that before was a little abstract for some.

You can stream Making the Cut’s first two Tokyo episodes right now on Amazon Prime Video. New episodes of Making the Cut debut on Fridays, with the grand finale dropping on April 24.

Stream Making the Cut on Prime Video