Big logos are like a neon light screaming, look at me, i’ve paid real money for this, Yes, i can afford expensive things. At least this used to be my opinion on this matter. ...But as with most opinions, this one also changed.
Subtle or completely unbranded feels like there is enough confidence, no need to show-off. Big screaming logos kind of radiate the opposite. But don't we all want to communicate with our clothes and outfits just a little bit?
Personally I think my first ‘branded-item’ was a Levis 501 - with the unmistakable little red tab on my butt. It was the absolute coolest thing to have in 1985.
Please do me a favor and watch this add with the gorgeous Nick Kamen!
How can this not make you fall in love with these jeans...?
It was the first time I realized that you can wear or talk about a pair of jeans or a pair of Levi’s. I remember i was educated by the hip kids about the very old brand Levi’s and how the ultimate find in a thrift store would be a very old pair.
Hopeful I went into my fathers closet, to discover some Edwin jeans - fun fact this brand is Japanese and started making their own jeans in 1961 - the name “Edwin” comes from an anagram of the word “denim”
…Anyway, totally not cool!
I managed to get a pair of original 501’s and i’ve worn them to threads. I must confess I still have them, the holes are so big i don’t think it can ever be worn again…but it is a classic, and it has been through a lot!
I never been into brands and logos, but I definitely got aware of brands through Logo-mania in the nineties. At the time it was the crocodile on the Lacoste shirts, the Nike swoosh and the somewhat funny logo of Kappa that got my attention.
Kappa, is an interesting story on it self - watch this short video on how an italian sock brand blew up in the nineties.
The idea that a brand can bring groups together like hooligans, hip hop fans, Preppy rich kids is very interesting to me. The sense of belonging and then showing it to the world. I think its very powerful that a logo or a brand can do this. I also feel like in this case it is not specifically a way for people to display membership in elite or trend-setting circles.
In a way I believe that we all love to show (exactly) what we wear. It might be a self made skirt that we hope someone notice so we can point out the fact that is is self-made or the designer shirt that we found in a thrift shop (how lucky was I?) or a gorgeous designer handbag that screams…’Yes, i can finally afford this piece or art”.
Love, Eva
"Communicating through fashion is more then just logos or brands"
I completely agree that logos are something that you really could look at from two angles. From one perspective it is something that seems very braggy. Something that solely makes you exude status and a certain level in society. However when you look at it from the idea that people prefer to show logos to show their aligned values and identity, it makes you look at it differently.
Let’s take Dapper Dan (Daniel Day) as an example. Dapper Dan was a Harlem-based designer and haberdasher who played a major role in New York’s hip-hop scene in the 1990s. In this context, a haberdasher refers to someone who dresses people and sells clothing. Dapper Dan became known for transforming luxury items—such as Louis Vuitton bags—by deconstructing and reconstructing them into custom pieces like leather jackets.
Dapper Dan was important because he gave Black and hip-hop culture a way to express success and identity through fashion at a time when the luxury world shut them out. By taking high-end logos and turning them into custom streetwear, he made those symbols feel personal and relevant to his community
His work helped shape the visual identity of hip-hop and showed that Black culture wasn’t just following fashion trends—it was creating them.
Dapper Dan (far right) featured in the Vogue 2025 May issue.
The fact that Dapper Dan and his work had not been featured in Vogue until 2025 really surprised me to be honest. I was watching Vogue in the 90s when I first got to know about Dapper Dan and since it was such a big part of one of the episodes I thought he would have been introduced way earlier in Vogue. This really shows the struggle of black culture being accepted in the bigger field of fashion.
I feel like I kind off went off topic and stretched this subject a bit with this whole Dapper Dan story but it did really make me think about the core of logos. What was really emphasised in the Vogue in the 90s episode is that his designs were a tool of giving the black culture a new sense of belonging. This was because Dapper Dan somehow made this such a famous phenomena that every famous black person was wearing it. It started having such a big effect on the fashion sector that not even people from Vogue could ignore it (I guess in the end they did for a long time, but clearly not in the Vogue in the 90s show). Black culture and black fashion had finally made its well deserved debut in fashion - and they were there to stay.
After Dapper Dan, in the mid-to-late 1990s, FUBU emerged, building on the growing visibility of Black culture. The brand was primarily created by Daymond John—who later became known as an investor on Shark Tank—and was designed to make clothing by and for the Black community (hence the name For Us, By Us).
On the left here we see the band NSYNC in FUBU. You can see that all the garments were identifiable primarily by their logos.
In the 1990s, logos weren’t just decorative; they were symbols of identity, status, and culture. For designers like Dapper Dan and brands like FUBU, logos became a way to claim power and visibility in a world that often excluded Black communities. Dapper Dan took luxury logos from brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton and remade them into streetwear, turning high-end symbols into tools of self-expression and belonging for Harlem’s hip-hop scene. FUBU, on the other hand, used its own logo to create a sense of community and pride, signaling that the clothing was made “for us, by us.” In both cases, logos were more than branding; they allowed a part of society to have this feeling of belonging and enjoy a sense of shared values.
So all in all the idea behind logos can truly have different significance. I always thought that they were flashy and unnecessary but then again I had never looked at it from this point of view. To me, using logos, is now a beautiful way to show how people use fashion to connect with each other in a rather social way. It is all about combining fashion with community and in this way spreading cultures and values. I really loved looking more into this perspective on logos and I really hope you did too!
I do think I have recommended it before but truly, I have learned a lot from watching Vogue in the 90s. So do not hesitate to check it out on Disney+ or HULU.
Enjoy your week and talk to you soon :)
Love, Lola
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Lovely read, guys. I have always thought negatively of people wearing branded items that cost a lot more, often saying it was pointless. However, I now see it is about people wearing what they want to wear, bringing communities together and feeling like a part of a symbolic community.