La WATCHPARTY: How Lyas Is Turning Fashion Into a Fandom Experience

Photos Courtesy of @ly.as / @lawatchparty /

Here’s something that made me look twice in culture this week: Elias Medini—better known as Lyas—has taken the idea of a fashion watch party and transformed it into something much bigger.

I’ve been following Lyas for a while. He’s an incisive fashion critic and commentator, known for his conversational tone and sharp eye. But what’s fascinating isn’t just the commentary—it’s the community he’s built. Out of his Instagram presence has grown La WATCHPARTY, a fandom-style gathering that feels closer to a Champions League match than a fashion show.

And that’s the point. The pitch is the catwalk.

From a Bar in Paris to Fashion’s New Subculture

La WATCHPARTY began almost accidentally. Back in June, Lyas projected Dior Men’s Spring/Summer 2026 show on a screen in a Paris bar. More than 300 people showed up. The video of that moment went viral—1.8 million views later, it was clear something had shifted.

This wasn’t just a livestream—it was a shared experience. A space where fashion lovers who didn’t have an invite to the front row could still be part of the culture.

By September, La WATCHPARTY expanded to London and Milan Fashion Weeks, now with official sponsors—British Fashion Council, MAC Cosmetics, Meta, Vestiaire Collective. Suddenly, this wasn’t a one-off experiment. It was a movement.

A Cultural Shift: From Online to IRL

Fashion commentary has evolved before. Once it was Vogue dispatches from the runway, later it was Diet Prada’s real-time Instagram call-outs. But Lyas has taken it a step further—into the physical.

La WATCHPARTY is styled like a sports viewing party: supersized MacBook Pro stage, interactive activations, merch drops, games, community prizes. Around 1,000 people show up per show. It’s free, it’s participatory, and it’s inclusive.

The logic is the same as sports fandom. Where football fans gather in pubs to watch the game, Lyas is showing us what happens when fashion is treated like a sport—shared, debated, and celebrated in community.

Why It Matters

Lots of brands and agencies talk about fan culture. But La WATCHPARTY isn’t theory—it’s practice. It’s the shift from content as something you passively consume to content born from activation.

People don’t just come to watch a livestream. They come for the experience of being in it, of belonging to something larger than themselves. Lyas isn’t just covering fashion anymore—he’s reshaping how people participate in it.

The Future of Fashion Fandom

As Paris hosts the finale of La WATCHPARTY—streaming Loewe, Balenciaga, Valentino, and Chanel—it feels like the beginning of a new chapter. One where fashion’s exclusivity softens, and where cultural moments aren’t confined to elite front rows, but made communal, open, alive.

It’s not just fashion criticism. It’s fan culture. It’s community. It’s a new way of belonging. And honestly? I think it’s sick, and what was craved by all the fashion lovers, and more.