A model wearing a Fendace t-shirt is seen ahead of the Versace special event during the Milan Fashion Week. Photo / Getty Images
Once considered brash and (whisper it) a bit naff, the luxury logo is the height of fashion once more. Hollywood's newest It girl nails the luxe look.
At a party last month in one of London's not-yet-opened members' clubs, a guest was swaddled in Chanel's signature CC logo. The shoes, shirt and dangly earrings came complete with gold and pearl-encrusted double Cs. A glance at the well-heeled crowd — models, fashion editors and assorted industry moguls — confirmed my suspicions. From Fendi's FF-embossed boots to Gucci's GG-buckled bags, everyone — young and old, male and female — was embracing logo-laden dressing in a manner not seen since 2000. I even spotted Kate Moss, who remains the litmus test of what's hot right now, in a gold-embossed logo T-shirt (a Fendi-Versace mash-up — more on that later). The official mood of the moment? Too much is never enough.
Fendi is a case in point. Its double-F logo, designed by Karl Lagerfeld in 1965, apparently in under five seconds, is currently plastered on the brand's bags, boots, sunglasses and tights. According to the fashion search engine Lyst, worldwide demand for logoed pieces is up 59 per cent since September, which may explain Fendi's latest collaboration, launching in November, as modelled by Gossip Girl star Jordan Alexander. The Fendi x Skims collection features — you've guessed it — a new logo, appearing on reversible skintight jersey, embossed on knitwear and writ large across recycled nylon sportswear. For the uninitiated, Skims is the billion-dollar shapewear line founded by Kim Kardashian that has waiting lists for its Spanx-style underwear.
For more than a decade the logo has been a no-go — considered too showy and garish. Who can forget Danniella Westbrook being papped in a Burberry kilt, with a Burberry handbag, clutching a Burberry-clad child while pushing a Burberry pushchair in 2002? "Logos and branding had a real kick-off moment in the Eighties, with logos emblazoned on everything possible,'' says Heather Gramston, head of womenswear at Browns. ''Stamping on the insignia of a brand was part of the status quo, and expressing your personal style in a very conspicuous manner was a prerequisite."
The idea that we might wear logo-covered garments not because of their intrinsic value but because we want to impress others can be traced back to the American economist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the term "conspicuous consumption" in 1899 to describe the practice of rich people acquiring material possessions to flaunt their wealth and social status. In fact the fashion logo dates back as far as 1896, when Louis Vuitton designed its first monogram. But it was during the Sixties and Seventies that the logo went mainstream, with Courrèges' ACs and Bill Blass's BBs affixed to everything from hats to hosiery. Audrey Hepburn's super-chic Louis Vuitton Speedy handbag, for instance, was designed in a smaller size specifically for the actress in 1965 after she fell in love with the monogrammed luggage. Then came the logomania of the Eighties and Nineties, first popularised by hip-hop stars (Snoop Dogg famously wore a Tommy rugby shirt on SNL in 1994, putting Tommy Hilfiger on the map; TLC, Aaliyah and Destiny's Child embraced the label soon after) and later Sex and the City.
By the end of the decade such brash branding had, on the arms of Wags and reality TV stars, reached saturation point. Then came bootleg culture. Buying a fake Gucci or "Guccy" on foreign holidays became the norm and, in some circles, a badge of honour. "We can't really talk about brands and logos without acknowledging the role of social class," says Finola Kerrigan, professor of marketing and director of the Fashion Business Research Centre at London College of Fashion, UAL. "Consumers who may be seen as outsiders by a specific brand and their core brand community, either in terms of social class, fashion sense or other factors, may have displayed the logos in an attempt to gain acceptance."
So did its new-found ubiquity kill the logo, a former status symbol? "We have seen instances where a brand may not want to be associated with a specific consumer tribe," Kerrigan says. Not only did brands start removing logos from their collections in favour of more subtle trademarks, the 2008 recession and financially skittish times marked a seismic shift: anonymous, logo-less handbags replaced the heavily branded It bags of the Noughties as a more discreet era of luxury was ushered in under the likes of Phoebe Philo at Celine and Bottega Veneta. For the uber-wealthy this still rings true: Loro Piana by day, the Row by night — all logos out of sight.
However, for the next generation of fashion obsessives, the logo — whether a branded belt or slogan T-shirt — has become a must-have once more. See Billie Eilish, now 19, in top-to-toe Gucci monogram and Dua Lipa in Versace. "Eye-catching logos have proved immensely popular with the TikTok generation," says Lyst's content lead, Morgane Le Caer. At Pinterest there has been a 40 per cent increase in searches for "logo" compared with this time last year, with searches for the Chanel logo up 150 per cent. Fendi is only serving to increase demand with the artistic director Kim Jones's latest logo play — during Milan fashion week last month, Donatella Versace and Jones did a "job swap", in which they released a Fendace collection, with Donatella designing for Fendi and Jones for Versace. Both designers love a logo: under Donatella's watch the Fendi Zucca, or double F, was found on everything from boots to dresses.
So why now? Is it nostalgia, irony or simply social media fodder? Perhaps a combination of all three. "For Gen Z, we are simultaneously resenting and revering logomania," says 20-year-old Benji Park, whose TikTok account (@fashionboy) has 198,000 followers. "We are social warriors and anticapitalists, but we are also digital. On the one hand we are superkeen to be sustainable and buy timeless designer pieces. On the other hand we are the hype generation."
The main difference for this next gen of logo obsessives, then? It doesn't need to be new: second-hand can be just as fruitful when it comes to finding that perfect piece. The leading luxury resale site Vestiaire Collective has seen a growing influence of logomania in the past six months, in particular a 62 per cent increase in searches for monogram. "People are becoming much more savvy generally," Park says. "One reason the Nineties is back in fashion is because you can buy something original for a fraction of the cost. It's having the brand prestige while patting yourself on the back for buying second-hand."
Ultimately, though, it's simply a question of what looks good right now — and logos pop online. Park agrees: "We are Generation Rent, our dating and social lives were burnt with the pandemic and jobs are drying up. During lockdown we felt unstimulated and unglamorous. Even though most of them were designed before social media, logos really catch your eye — they are a bit of flash and flair. We want to make up for lost time — basically, go flashy or go home."
If Blake Lively epitomised the quintessential all-American teen when Gossip Girl first hit TV screens in 2007, Jordan Alexander is here to upend the status quo. The rising star of HBO Max's Gossip Girl remake, which aired this summer on BBC1 and picks up eight years after the end of the original show, Alexander plays Julien Calloway, the leader of the pack: a young black woman who lives her life on social media. The show still centres on outlandish privilege — private school, complicated parents, love trysts and pill popping — but tackles polyamory, diversity and bisexuality too. All in all it's a marked departure from the original show's cookie-cutter representation of America. "The writers have a commitment to finding out what's going on in pop culture," says Alexander over the phone from her home in Toronto. "The result is that the people they cast are reflective of society right now."
While Alexander, 28, grew up in Canada with Gossip Girl on TV, it wasn't until she secured the role that she went back to the beginning for an in-depth viewing. "It's actually perfect quarantine television — there are so many episodes!" she laughs. The filming of the new series took place in New York towards the end of last year, with leaked paparazzi shots of Alexander in cycling shorts and knee-high boots soon flooding the internet and prompting one big question: "Who's that girl?"
Alexander has been a singer since the age of 12, and recently performed alongside Kehlani and Carly Rae Jepsen — and now the fashion world has come calling. In 2007 Gossip Girl was as influential for its on-screen outfits as its one-liners, and 2021's version is no different — Alexander's character is often spotted wearing a designer handbag teamed with cult sportswear. "The styling of the show is a huge chunk of who these characters are," she says. "Part of the status and wealth is being able to present that with the clothes — it's ingrained in that socialite society."
In real life Alexander sticks with relatively low-key wardrobe choices. Splitting her time between Toronto and Brooklyn, the actress is getting used to living life out of a suitcase. "I'm very transient and in between things," she says. "It does mean my personal style is all over the place." A recent trip to Milan to sit front row marked not only her first trip to Italy but also to Europe. "It exceeded my expectations — it was so beautiful and the people were wonderful. Just listening to a language that wasn't predominantly English. I feel like I experienced and saw more things in four days than I have in the past five years." Rather than bring along her two sisters or partner, the model and activist Shane Homan, Alexander went with her father. "It was an amazing experience as I hadn't seen him in nine months. He has always been my style icon, so he was in his element. Before we left he made my sister run around Toronto trying to find him a specific hat to wear. He didn't take it off for the entire trip."
With filming for Gossip Girl's second series paused until January, Alexander is enjoying some downtime in Toronto, "camping, watching TV" and adapting to her new-found fame. She's sparking a trend for shaved heads too. "For me it's interesting that it still surprises people that I have a shaved head, because in my circles there are a lot of people with shaved heads. But people always comment on it and want to do it, which is great. Black hair can be a lot of maintenance and cost, so I can only encourage people."
Despite her growing social profile (141,000 Instagram followers), Dad remains her No1 fan. "He was having Gossip Girl-viewing parties in Toronto — and giving me notes about my character development!"
Written by: Jane McFarland
© The Times of London
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