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Best logo

Renwick

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I hate logo wear. But I have a few pieces with logos. I like my G watch because I like the square face- not the logo. I also like my glasses which just happen to have the G on them. I actually have to say that I have a few Versace ties that have the medusa heads on them and get a lot of compliments on them (more than on any ties I own besides my Pucci prints in fact). I know someone mentioned the medusa as being a horrible logo before- but I tend to like it (as logo stuff goes) because it's a little more origional than a letter. What do you think?
 

pstoller

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Of these, I voted for the Hermès H, more because of the relatively elegant ways in which Hermès has incorporated it into their products than for the quality of the logo design itself. (These would really make two different categories for voting, IMO.) Still, there are so many other logos out there worth considering, including:

The Prada Sport red stripe
The Margiela corner label stitches
The Paciotti dagger
The Mugler star
The Montana M
The Gaultier coathook loop
The Lacoste crocodile
The Nike swoosh
The Levi's red tab
The Vivienne Westwood orb, and pirate's sword

...and about a zillion others, from names used as graphics (e.g., Dior) to the stitching on the back pockets of designer jeans. I'll bet you other guys can think of better ones than I have.
 

Mike C.

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Even though I voted for the LV logo, I feel the best logo is the Burberry plaid. It's so good because it's not even a logo in the traditional sense, yet it has become that. It's sad, because it was such a classy print and always kept subtle; such as on the lining on the underside of a raincoat.

Logo wear has definatly been abused in the past few years, mostly due to the hip-hop community. I find it disgusting the way they flash logos, money and fancy cars in everyone's face. Anyone with real money is not impressed, and knows that in reality these people do not have all that (except for the key players; Dr. Dre, P. Diddy). It's a total fantasy, which isn't even appealing.

Also how does the fashion industry agree to go along with this image. For example who at LV decided it was in their best interest to design a LV print jumpsuit for Dr. Dre. It may be just my opinion, but I feel this ruins the cache of these brands and encourages knock-offs. Most people can not afford this stuff, so they will resort to the next best thing; the knock-offs that are so prevalent here in NYC. I can't tell you how many fake Fendi print bucket hats I see everyday, or men in fake Gucci print pants, jackets, hats, ect...
 

LabelKing

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I feel that logo wear has become a tad tacky with all the rappers, and such wearing all the Burberry's, Gucci's, and whatnot.

But then logos still hold a certain appeal to me, as the prestige, and glamour just doesn't go away for some reason. I rather like the Hermes H, the Versace Medusa, and the Fendi F.

Others that are appealing to me is the Viviene Westwood globe, the Longchamp rider, Dunhill D, the Dior CD, and the ST.Dupont D.

I find that the above mentioned aren't as overused as the Gucci's, and such.
 

pstoller

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...how does the fashion industry agree to go along with this image? For example, who at LV decided it was in their best interest to design a LV print jumpsuit for Dr. Dre?
High-profile celebrities in easily-identifiable luxury goods are powerful billboards. Logo-ridden "ghetto fabulous" threads are selling plenty of products to a new market without having much negative impact on the established markets...at least, not yet. Marc Jacobs is savvy enough to be sure there's plenty of LV product with a completely different appeal than that which sells to nouveau-riche (or faux-riche) rappers. Likewise Lagerfeld at Fendi, and so on.

I would hope the over-the-top logowear aesthetic is part of a phase that will end soon, although I'm not getting my hopes up. No bets that what comes next will be any better, either.
 

davei

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In athletic wear, I've always been partial to the old style adidas trefoil logo. Got to agree with Mike C. about the tackiness of logo wear, and hip hop styles specifically. It's rather ironic since I'm sure a Gucci print tracksuit cannot be even half the price of a Tom Ford designed shirt and slacks...
smile.gif
I comes down to attention getting. If it was only about money, they'd all be wearing custom Oxxford/Kiton/Brioni/etc. and we'd say they had exquisite taste. To the majority of the population, however, a suit's a suit so who knew it cost $4k?
 

Joe G

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I actually have to say that I have a few Versace ties that have the medusa heads on them and get a lot of compliments on them (more than on any ties I own besides my Pucci prints in fact).
I agree with you on some of the Versace ties. I have one from the Gianni Versace line (Versace has so many lines that it's impossible to keep them all straight) that has small black woven polka-dots on an dark electric blue background. A few of the polka dots are actually medusas that are ever so slightly larger than the polka dots. So, it's a logo, but the medusas actually add character and interest to the tie.

As for best logo, although I voted for the Hermes "H", I can think of three better logos, the Salvatore Ferragamo omega, the Gucci Gancini bit on loafers, and the Lacoste croc. Perhaps I like the first two because they're subtle.

The omega only appears prominently on Ferragamo's loafers and subtly on other items. (I have a pair of monkstraps with an elongated omega buckle, and a salmon-coloured zip polo shirt with a gunmetal-grey omega zipper pull, for instance.)

The Gancini bit only appears on classicist renditions of Gucci loafers, albeit also on a host of wannabes.

The Lacoste croc is not subtle, but it was the first one.

I most appreciate Helmut Lang's approach to logos. Not only are they nonexistent, but often the name is stitched onto the tag in a colour that makes it impossible to read from more than a foot away. Just the thing if you don't want people knowing what brands you wear when you hang shirts to dry, for instance.

As far as IMPORTANCE, the two biggest logos in the world are probably the Nike swoosh and the Ralph Lauren polo player.

Peace,

JG
 

jetLab

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I like the way Dior Homme uses two silver stitches on the bottom of their shirts and jackets. Prada Sport does the same thing on some items except they use red thread.
 

pstoller

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I most appreciate Helmut Lang's approach to logos. Not only are they nonexistent, but often the name is stitched onto the tag in a colour that makes it impossible to read from more than a foot away. Just the thing if you don't want people knowing what brands you wear when you hang shirts to dry, for instance.

I agree on this. I like that the jeans have no leather label on the back; just the name on the buttons. (Paper Denim & Cloth has taken the same, wise approach.) Lang recently released a line of shirts with an "HL" logo that combined those letters into one character. Even with the tone-on-tone coloring and minimalism of the logo, I found the whole idea of a Helmut Lang chest logo to be counter to the Lang aesthetic.
 

Joe G

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Lang recently released a line of shirts with an "HL" logo that combined those letters into one character. Even with the tone-on-tone coloring and minimalism of the logo, I found the whole idea of a Helmut Lang chest logo to be counter to the Lang aesthetic.
I forgot about those, but I thought them rather odd when I saw them, too. Also, to be fair, HL had T-shirts for S/S 02 with HELMUT LANG written on the back and "Printemps 2002" under it. Some of these were in interestingly minimalist colour combinations, but others were white with black writing.

(Why an Austrian designer living in NYC would choose French is beyond me, but that's a whole 'nother topic...)

However, one of the first conversations I had with my fiance involved HL, when we were in college in the USA. (I wrote my BA and MA in the US, but she was just there as an exchange student for a year.) I was wearing my camel peacoat, and she remarked that she loved it and wanted to know where I got it. I told her, and she was excited because she didn't know that HL was known outside of her native Vienna. She had never actually seen an HL piece, so wanted to see the logo. I opened up the jacket, and she couldn't see it from arm's length away because it was stitched on in light silver thread on a white label.

And that's the way it should be, I think. The important issue is the design and construction, not the brand name.

Peace,

JG
 

PeterMetro

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I would hope the over-the-top logowear aesthetic is part of a phase that will end soon, although I'm not getting my hopes up. No bets that what comes next will be any better, either.
The logo thing in rap music is nothing new, in fact, it's cyclical: during the late 80s, it was all the rage to have leather jackets with the big Gucci logo on the back, Cazel eyeglasses and big truck gold chains.

Being a hip-hop fan for a long time, I can recall such lyrics as "but now he trucks gold and wears fly Bally boots, rough leather fashions and tuft silk suits" and gold Mercedes and Cadillac medallions. While certainly not tasteful, this new string of "Gator boots, with the pimped out Gucci suits" is nothing that hasn't been said before.

As for it ending soon, my guess is that we'll see a backlash in the upcoming years, more politically conscious music (Nappy Roots = Arrested Development II?). Then, in a few more years, we'll go back to the ostentatious displays of wealth that the newly rich sometimes favor. To be honest, I'm not sure it's such a bad thing (even though their money could most likely be better spent).

As far as IMPORTANCE, the two biggest logos in the world are probably the Nike swoosh and the Ralph Lauren polo player.

In terms of apparel logos, maybe. But in the world? Nike, McDonalds and Coca-Cola.
 

GQgeek

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TOMMY HILFIGER























































































just joking ;p
 

Stone

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The Lacoste crocodile is the only logo I'm okay with wearing...dunno why - I hate wearing anything with a logo on it. The logo is so intrinsically tied to the idea of polo shirts that it's stopped feeling like a logo.
 

Mike

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I dig that little crocodile myself. I don't actually own any Lacoste shirts now, but I used to have a bunch. Maybe why that logo isn't so bad is because it's only on polo shirts. Plus, Lacoste is not such a huge luxury brand that everybody in music videos have to wear.

I think its kind of neat to look at old movies and see that little guy on the shirts. I was just watching the movie "The Odd Couple" earlier and Jack Lemmon had a Lacoste shirt on. Classic.
 

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