“One of the characteristics of Lee’s playbook is owning a colour. I think we will continue to see more within the fashion industry jumping on the same bandwagon,” says Ajaz Ahmed, founder and CEO of Akqa, a new media company with a client list that has included Hermès, Chanel, Nike, Louis Vuitton and Moncler.
Fundamentally, brands are grappling with the need to be simultaneously loud and quiet, Ahmed observes. “Logomania had an extravagance to it, or a sense of superiority. Now, there’s a greater subtlety and elegant sensibility that demonstrates a person’s cultural astuteness, which reflects the mood of the times. There are a lot of non-graphic motifs and house codes that are identifying garments and brands without the need for the logo to be plastered all over it.”
It’s not a process that can be achieved at speed. “It takes time to evolve a true brand identity; you really need to have created a cult brand to get to that point,” says Wizz & Co’s Selvey. And claiming trademark ownership of a motif or colour isn’t as straightforward as for logos. “Developing a lasting brand symbol is a long process,” agrees Musmann.
Developing a long-lasting house identifier isn’t every brand’s priority. Emerging South Korean streetwear brand Goodboy takes the opposite tack: it changes its logo each season to create an element of surprise and excitement for its customers. This has an additional benefit of making counterfeiting more difficult — its most dedicated fans know which season a logo is from.
Hugo, the Gen Z brand owned by Hugo Boss, regularly reinvents its logo. For Spring/Summer 2023, it added a swirly signature logo, as if written with a sweep of a pen, used as a signoff motif or an allover print. For Autumn/Winter 2023, Simone Rocha invited six creatives, including Daniel Freeman, Oscar Torrans and Toby Evans, to reinterpret its house logo. In fashion, reinvention is a never-ending process.
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