Siiiiiiiigh, A-Duh! Logo Fatigue.
A conversation about Logo Fatigue, and how not everyone who loves fashion is an airy zombie.
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| Ruben Verdu Louis Vuitton Trash Bag |
The industry
surrounding Fashion is not really a kumbaya singing, campfire get-together of
the global community, where everyone is holding hands, smiling, and feeling
great about themselves. (Unless that campfire is someplace exotic, exclusive,
and your best friends are beautiful and fucking rich, and those marshmallows
are gluten and sugar free.) There are absolutely so many people within the
industry who are always trying to do a good thing. These people tirelessly
demand that “fashion” as a concept, and an industry can be meaningful, and can
occupy a place beyond vapid consumerism and profiting off that high-school aged
mean girl, or that football playing bully that lives somewhere inside all of
us. There are people who work day and night to express themselves, who believe
that what we put on our bodies can be a vibrant, and beautiful expression of
the mind inside that body. They believe fashion is art, and/or they believe
fashion can be a medium for good. They are right and they are wrong, all at the same time. Your brand has an
identity, you brand has to make money, your brand has to answer to consumers,
so you can keep you brand alive. That leads me to Suleman Anaya’s article in, The Business of Fashion. Apparently
logo fatigue has reached a tipping point. Yeah, we know.
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| Ron Arad (1987) apart of the Louis Vuitton Collection (link below) |
Here’s a quote
from the article:
“Of
course, logo fatigue is not new. […] The phenomenon swept over Japan, Europe
and the US long before emerging in less developed markets. In the 1990s, the
‘LV’ monogram was highly popular in American and European cities, but slowly
drifted away (often relegated to the provinces) as more savvy and demanding
consumers sought out less obvious brand signifiers like iconic shapes or
signature design treatments — Chanel’s quilting, for example — that only a
select, like-minded minority would recognize [sic].”
What I think
is interesting is the “only a select, like-minded minority would recognize.”
Hummmmmmm, I wonder who that would be? Anyway, while I was looking for images
for this conversation I came upon White Box Contemporary’s show discussing Theodor Adorno’s ideas surrounding culture industry. Which
generally is the notion that there is a culture industry designed to keep
consumers or the masses passive, and controllable. Not to go deep into the
theory, but whenever I see articles like The Anaya’s I am annoyed for multiple
reasons, in this case, we’ll stick to how so many people in the fashion industry refuse to submerge themselves
in the artfulness of fashion design. Some
of these business people insist on propagating the vapid emptiness so many
people strive to move away from, and low and behold, 10+ years later, they realize some people in their target markets
have brains. Further, you have exhausted an element of your brand’s identity.
WHY ARE YOU EXAUSTING YOUR ICON? I am sure, creative types working in these
fields have been having this conversation for years, years, Anaya was talking about the acknowledging this “trend” in
the 90’s. She mentions Marc Jacobs who is the now the creative director for
Louis Vuitton. Jacobs defiantly keeps the brand fresh, and continues to have a
sense of humor, he takes his work seriously, while not taking it too seriously.
His collaboration with Richard Prince demonstrates this. But I wonder if Jacobs
participates in these conversations internally, I guess we’ll never know.
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| Richard Prince's collaboration with Louis Vuitton |
Ok,
so I mean I get it. Look at some of these shows, its BIG MONEY. A market I am
in no way a part of. And actually, Louis Vuitton as a brand does an amazing-ish job working with artists and allowing the selected few to comment sorta openly. I, however, will use my internet and watch the industry's displays all unfold after-the-fact,
and that’s fine. FINE. I feel no shame. I’m the person watching from someone’s
smartphone video-feed, who’s sitting in the nose-bleed seats, screaming at my
computer, either cheering for all the amazing, beautiful, avant garde, ballsy
designs or throwing tissues at the overdone, passé wannabe’s brain-farts that
somehow made it on a runway, or in a magazine. However, as much as I don’t have
a say in any of this, I will be watching, and typing, and commenting. And there
are lots of us out there watching and calling out bullshit. So in conclusion
for today, Long live Marc Jacobs! (and others working to keep things fresh and
real)
Links
Artists:
Articles:
White Box
Contemporary's Celebrity Skin exhibition page
Business of
Fashion, Has Logo Fatigue Reached a
Tipping Point?
Girl in the
city Blog-scroll down to find Richard Prince Collaboration
http://girlandthecity.wordpress.com/category/fashion-shows/
Blog entry to Louis Vuitton Exhibition Catalogue
