This is how psychology explains the current fashion obsession with logos

ModaBurberry is the latest luxury firm to change its logo, but this is only the beginning of a revolution that we are all called to fall into. Logomania is back (again).

By Amaia Odriozola

“It was great seeing you today. Here is the final logo we agreed on. Peter”. With this concise email, the centennial British house Burberry unveiled this week a change of era through a renewed logo and a new print, a gesture that the fashion industry has already interpreted as the beginning of a revolution.

The man behind this new direction (with sans-serif sans-serif typeface, more modern and minimalist) is its new creative director, Riccardo Tisci, and the creator of the new logo is Peter Saville, the graphic designer who also redesigned the logo of Calvin Klein last year at the request of Raf Simons.

What could remain niche news - the logo has not been touched since 1999, when the final 'S' was removed from the brand name - is, in fact, one of those flutters of the butterfly effect: today the logo is changed and Somehow next summer we're all wearing logos, or wishing for a €3,000 bag with visible branding. In fashion, logos can be symbols of status, luxury and even irony (this is the only way to explain the Vetêments DHL t-shirt, a bestseller at more than €200) and what no one can escape is that **logomania* * he's back.

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In recent months, many brands have asked themselves if they needed a new image, and if to achieve it, they should update their logos. Many have: Gucci, for example, has created the new Guccy logo (with a Greek y, yes) for its Cruise 2018 collection, while Balenciaga has used one inspired by the US elections. The Italian brand Versace, for its part, found in its archives a typeface from the 1980s with which it now writes its name. Dior, after several seasons stamping its name on dresses, shoes and suspenders, has now brought back its infamous 'Saddle' bag from the 90s, a creation by John Galliano (apparently no longer non grata) stamped with endless “D's”. Also Fendi, under the creative direction of Karl Lagerfeld, has taken its double “F” stamping everything, from skirts to bags, tights, shoes and coats, in its new season collection. These movements seek ** to connect with the desired millennial pockets ** and have achieved milestones such as the best-selling Gucci t-shirt, made of cotton and printed with the logo of the house, sold out at a price of 500 dollars.

But why? What do logos have to catch us so much?

This is how psychology explains the current fashion obsession with logos

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Apparently, the answer lies in the emotional ingredient that they transmit to us. And it is explained to us by Dr. Daniel L. Benkendorf, Associate Professor of Psychology at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. “All logos are a kind of heuristic signal. This means that they instantly provide a large amount of information, which allows a quick judgment. For example, when you see a gold "MK" symbol hanging from a bag, you know it's Michael Kors, that it's high-quality, that it means designer wear, and that it's not cheap. And you know all this in a fraction of a second. A brand logo is like a compressed zip file. ** That little logo will tell the world about you.** And since we have control over the logos we use, we can control the messages we send.”

A logo, then, is above all informative. He says: I've got it. “It tells us something about the product and the owner. When you wear a simple black polo shirt, you don't get much information. However, if you look at a little Patagonia tag, you can start making all sorts of attributions about the user's values (pro-environment, progressive), interests (nature enthusiast), and sensitivities (would rather pay a little more for better quality? ?) . Our ability to detect and send these social messages is what, from a consumer perspective, is the most attractive thing about logos”, he explains to us.

Luxury, in constant need of the new, finds some oxygen in logomania. “Yes, a logo is the official currency for a luxury brand. Fast fashion - the so-called Fast Fashion - will be able to reproduce many of their designs quickly and cheaply, but they cannot use a logo without exposing themselves to a legal threat.”

IT'S NOT THE LOGO, IT'S YOU

Thus, when we want a bag with two “C”s, it is not so much because of the bag, but because of what it means. “Logos have a more emotional than aesthetic ingredient. However, pretty things make us feel good. Since logos are so rich in information, they can help us build all kinds of affective reactions. A logo from our youth can trigger nostalgia and resurrect all sorts of associated feelings. Something as simple as a logo can access the deep place where we store the emotional memories of our past. I think this is part of what is happening now with the logomania trend that we see in fashion,” she adds. ** “Wishing is stronger than possessing.** Psychological research shows with certainty that the accumulation of possessions does not improve well-being. In fact, evidence suggests it can make it worse. Consumers find themselves in a hedonistic cycle where we buy something new that we desperately want, but the thrill of having bought it quickly subsides and is replaced by a craving for something else. This is especially true in fashion: following a trend shows that we are socially connected, but looking for the new allows new rewards.”

According to Dr. Benkendorf, human beings crave status and compare ourselves to others to determine that position. “It starts in preschool and continues throughout our lives. Social comparisons allow us to assess where and how we fit in, with which group or groups we fit in, and where we fit in the social hierarchy. As a deeply social species, all this has marked the history of humanity. Our status matters to us, so we will work very hard and pay a lot of money to get a higher position.”

In his opinion, the connection between fashion, identity and emotion is highly underestimated.

It's not the logo, it's you.

See gallery: If you are going to fall into logomania, do it like this