BIG LOGO, BIG STYLE
Designer logos… Cheap and Desperate or Stylish and Chic?
Waking up still drunk to find stale beer all over your t-shirt isn’t sexy. It is however, a great way to ‘borrow’ a new tee if you have good mates. Marc Jacobs phone box/monster ’07 tee, (Fearne Cotton wore it once in Heat…) yes please!
Adding it to my wardrobe, it quickly becomes one of my favourite casual wears! Great design, perfect fit and high quality all in a t-shirt. Little did I know this would be the start of such controversy. With the Marc Jacobs logo stamped across my chest, some of my friends immediately call me a walking billboard. ‘Shouldn’t you be paid to wear that?’ etc etc. Then this person I meet on a night out brings it into conversation straight away, becoming what I perceived as almost sycophantic towards me because I’m obviously amazing if I’m wearing Marc Jacobs…
No.
This leads to the question, are designer logos wearable or not?
Logos on more than one item of clothing in your outfit can look very Benidorm. Think fake Louis Vuitton print overdosing on cocaine. Not inspirational:
Logos as a centre piece however can look pretty good! Keep it to one logo and keep it casual… Check out FashionBeans 4th best dressed, Kanye West, with his YSL tee in the main picture above.
The truth is, style shouldn’t be about what designer name you can show off. It’s about realising your body shape and the fits that suit you so you can wear clothes that compliment it. High quality and well designed garments obviously help in achieving this. Confidence ultimately results from wearing clothes that make you feel great.
A decent designer shouldn’t really need a logo to be recognisable. The colour choices, design and quality of production should create the designer’s independence.
Working in high fashion retail, I noticed there were three obvious types of customer:
- ‘I don’t want that, I mean sure I love Prada but how the hell is anyone else going to know that?!’
- ‘That piece is amazing, but it has a logo on it so I’ll look desperate!’
- ‘Tried on. Perfect fit. Looks great. Sold!’
Customer #1 only cares about the logo. Showing it off promotes wealth, success and being fashionable! Apparently…
Customer #2 hates customer 1. Having a no logo wardrobe makes you understatedly more fashionable! Apparently…
Customer #3 doesn’t give a sh*t. Logo or No Logo, they like what they like. They like what fits. They like their style and they know it looks good.
The design, quality of fabric and fit of these items as well as the big, juicy, throbbing logo it has on the front does it for me. It’s all about the package. Discover your own, but just so you get the idea…
Logo Clothing Examples
MyWardrobe
Coggles
Editor Addition
Logo clothing isn’t just limited to the premium designers either, a lot of the mid-budget commercial brands are throwing it out there as well. Take a look below for teen options in the G-star, Diesel, Hilfiger, Fred Perry, etc. price range:
In conclusion.
Mix it up. 2010 is a new decade. It should be called the ‘less pretentious’ decade. Customers #1 and #2 are SO pretentious. They are the victims of fashion. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Logos can be fun. Following trends is bang on trend, but letting someone else influence your buying decisions too much is a little embarrassing. Be customer #3. If you like that SCREAMING designer logo on the tee that fits you perfectly, do it. If not, don’t. Just don’t be such a fashion victim by saying you hate it on someone else.
Yours,
Robert Michael G.
*Wears full Kappa tracksuit.
Twitter: @robertmichaelg
Comments (15)
Great Article mate,
I am not on for a Logo. I mean a Plain outfit with a L V monogram bag or some subtle nae dropping looks cool, but as Alexander McQueen once said “The Logo killed Fashion”
i dont understand few articles back you or one of your editors said that labels where bad for fashion and now an article promoting them?
Hey Kris thanks for your comment.
As described in the article it’s all about individual style. Like Jacob says, who also writes for fashionbeans.com, he isn’t one for logos… Some people however, are! Just work with what you like, and try not to go overboard. My personal opinion anyway…
Actually, I don’t think the author wanted to promote labels. The point was not caring about them – whether they’re there or not there. I think that makes sense.
I agree with JK. AMQ nailed it. If I’m quite honest, if I see people with massive logos, my immediate thought is ‘try not to aggravate them and get yourself into a predicament’ followed by ‘I must leave. Now’.
But then I don’t think this topic is cut and dry. There are huge shades of grey.
I think Paolo hit this on the head, and really took away the main point of this article. Fashion is PERSONAL PREFERENCE.
Some will hate logos, some will love them. I for one do not like them particularly, but then seeing Kanye rock it how he did in the pictures above makes me change my viewpoint slightly.
I think what the writer or I probably said (in reference to Kris) is that don’t cover yourself in designer labels just because you think it makes you fashionable… it doesn’t. You can pick up budget clothing which looks amazing if you put the outfit together correctly, feel comfortable in what you are wearing, and it project who you are as a person.
Robert has nailed this point in his article. Labels do not prove anything either way… the point is IF YOU LIKE THEM and feel comfortable in them then they will look great on you. I would however agree with just one at a time as a feature piece.
Fashion is about personality and there are no set rules – just differences in opinions and that is why people read this site and comment.
Great article by the way, and just make sure you are really reading carefully and take away the great underlying points that it is making.
Exactly Paulo. The point I’m trying to make is that logos shouldn’t 100% affect what you decide to wear. Just work with what you like and looks good. However, I will not be responsible for people looking like the LV binbag we see above. Too much!
Couldn’t have said it better Ben.
I am forced to agree, with the article i can see myself fitting in with the types. I won’t wont say which one. But fashion I guess as everyone knows changes from person.
I’m extremely open minded when it comes to fashion… but still whenever i see someone being granted entrance into a decent club when they are sporting an ill-fitting armani ‘E-A’ t-shirt i die a little inside.
Personally, i have never liked promoting labels and giving them free advertising, i prefer my logos to be on the inside of my clothes or very small and discreet somewhere on the item iteelf around the pocket area perhaps.
I have undoubtedly seen on other websites the return of the super logo but it more in a tacky & gaudy sense , a bit like 80′s style in much bigger lettering than anything you have featured in this article like a massive armani badge or a shirt full of little ysl markings all over…
maybe the ironice idea of being obvious and taking the mickey of the full on labelling of the 80′s/90′s is the new fashion here !
Will anyone this century actually ‘invent the wheel’ and come up with some article of clothing to wear in the 21st century that is modern and futuristic ? I love the trends at the moment but everythung seems to be about looking back on a particular decade over the last 100 years for inspiration.
I personally am not a fan of the logo trend that has been pretty prevalent.
I love looking subtlety and understated because it sometimes make people around me wondering where I get my clothes from. I am not a fan of people instantly recognizing where I shop around.
But small logos in which I don’t mind at all if its around the pocket area and not a inflated balloon version across the chest. As some people have said, looking like an obvious walking billboard is not being fashionable.
It is ok to be bold but not in a Las Vegas billboard sign style bold.
Btw, I dont like Kanye’s outfit in this article. He looks like a grandpa that just visited a baseball game wearing some t-shirt with a logo on it. The third picture on the right is a little bit better.
I´ll never liked big logo´s it feels like bragging. Real fashionista´s know their brands. I don´t like making free ads…..
With the rise of scally chic..you may know them as chav’s, the adoption of labels has been a big thing. It has been a problem for certain labels and some have been the makers of their own downfall. Recall tommy hilfiger re-branding as it had been overkilled in the ghetto’s in America. Burberry had to go through a re-brand as well, shaking off their traditional check. Ed Hardy is the latest example in the UK. Big brash logo designs with which have been adopted by the shaven headed, UFC lovin gold bike chain wearing drug dealer wannabees! I got a watch by Ed Hardy before the meteoric slump, but actually wince a bit if people notice who its by now. Anyway I think this sort of mass appeal to the working/underclasses is what has been the demise of highly visible designer label pieces with the more conscious trendies! For now anyway!
@mush Veyy well said and some valid points about the fashion houses being taken over by the chavs or more so..the plaguerisers. The people who produce copies of YSL, Hillfiger, Louis Vutton, Lacoste, Burberry. I remember so many jokes going around with the burberry check and seeing the inner city youths wearing the burberry check. previously when i was growing up it was adopted by the football holligans in the 80′s along with Aquascutum !
I dont have any of the above fortuately in my wardrobe, i stick to G star, nudie, APC, Paul Smith, all saints, folk, junk de luxe, Lee, Peter Werth, Lyle & Scott, Barbour, Fred Perry at present…who tend to be a bit more discreet with the labelling on their clothes.
Its interesting to see the turn around of burberry after adopting some young up and coming brit actors how its shaken off the chavishness and i believe was one of the most looked forward to shows at this years fashion week in london.
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