By olivnes
One might argue that today, there’s a sense of charm that has been washed away by how available and immediate everything is these days. Fashion and art itself seems to be increasingly pulling away from that special element that has once characterized it – when I look around, it seems that it has become more vulgar to make art and for something to be considered art. It’s more about the message than the quality of the actual execution, which ends up lowering the bar. There are interesting outcomes from this, but I’ll speak of how we can frame this aspect of modern times in the designer logos, so proudly worn by so many of us, occupying a space comparable to the one Haute Couture does.
After a minimalist era, we longed for fashion weeks to appreciate haute couture hand-made garment – truly special and unique pieces. In contrast, designer logos and branding are done stronger and (literally) bigger than ever. Our desire for those pieces stems, modern day style, from influencers’ latest looks we just saw on Instagram. May it be Gucci, Versace, Chanel or Supreme, the logo mania is here for the foreseeable future. Fila is another prominent example of a heritage brand that has taken advantage of the surge in logo-wear. But, even though they come from the same designer house, do the pieces in side A (haute couture, hand-made pieces) fall under the same category as side B (street wear style sets) with designer branding? Are designer logos (as central components of high-end pieces) just tools of branding in business – design elements – or are they valid as art?
SIDE B
Picturing Versace Fall 2018, featuring large logos.
CREDIT: REX SHUTTERSTOCK
A Fila x Fendi bag on the runway at Fendi’s fall 2018 show and an all-over print dress boasting the Fendi logo.
CREDIT: REX SHUTTERSTOCK
Logo-filled pieces essentially consist of replicable visual cues, meshing into a pattern in varying shapes. This logo is a piece of design, made to be commercially appealing and to boost the company’s profit agenda. By definition, a logo is made out not to be unique but to be recognizable; a symbol for a company’s associable values and marketing message. Thus, it is surprising how they are often times worn, occupying the spot of editorial “art” in reputable magazines in the industry, for example. Where there used to be gala dresses, there are now logo filled sweats.
People are also not ashamed of sporting logos from head to toe – why? The other dimension of the designer logos trend has an interesting connection with the concept pioneered by Edward Bernays, the father of public relations and whose work was based on the principle that people are irrational and their decisions and actions could be easily manipulated by our intrinsic will to suppress or feed our insecurities. No better way that literally wearing Chanel’s name on your back, belt, chest, shoes – wherever there’s room to put it – to show the world the spot you occupy in the social ladder. This arises another question: is it about the visual qualities of the pieces and the logos or is this trend about what wearing these opulent pieces signals to others?
Sources: Heskett, J. (2017), Design and the creation of value – Chapter 1: Introduction: Design in economic life?; Burnays, E. (1945), Public Relations
Making sense of art and design industries 