Burberry, Hermès, LOEWE…these luxury logo aesthetics and stories

Not long ago, Burberry released a new logo, revisiting the classic knight logo.

Burberry old logo (left) VS new logo (right)

Upon hearing the news, Burberry fans burst into tears of joy and celebrated the New Year together, saying: This is the right taste.

It’s no wonder that fans are nostalgic. In the eyes of fans, the knight logo embodies the spiritual core of Burberry.

You should know that this classic knight pattern was officially used as early as 1901. It not only represents the history of Burberry “started in 1856”, but also symbolizes the brand connotation of bravery, dignity and strength. The knight holds a flag with “Prorsum” printed on it, which means “forward” in Latin. During World War II, many British soldiers charged on the battlefield wearing Burberry uniforms/accessories printed with this logo.

Various logos used by Burberry

As a Burberry fan who is trying to save money to buy Burberry, I think the letter logo has a minimalist beauty, but the knight logo is more motivating to save money. After all, the brand story and connotation represented by the logo are the real reason why I love a brand.

Not only Burberry, many luxury brand logos have their own unique aesthetics and spiritual core. Let’s share them with you today.

01. LOEWE

The “L” cursive font, simple and clear lines, and mirror-symmetrical design, the LOEWE logo can be seen in the crowd recently. It is not the type that will amaze you at first sight, but the more you look at it, the more beautiful it becomes. The curves, shape, and symmetry are very attractive.

LOEWE, known as the “Spanish Hermès”, was originally founded by a group of Spanish craftsmen in 1846. In 1876, Enrique Loewe Rosberg from Germany bought the cooperative and used his own name “LOEWE” as the name of the company. Therefore, although it is a Spanish brand, the word “LOEWE” actually comes from the German “Löwe”, which means “lion”.

According to common logic, the “lion” should be used as the logo design element, but luxury brands have a different way of thinking.

In 1970, the then LOEWE boss invited Spanish painter Vicente Vela to design a pattern for branding cattle and leather to indicate the brand’s authenticity. Vicente Vela used letters as elements and four intertwined cursive “L”s to create a famous visual mark for LOEWE. Because this visual mark is so spiritual, it has become synonymous with LOEWE in people’s minds, and LOEWE simply used this pattern as its brand logo.

The Vicente Vela version of LOEWE’s logo already had the prototype of the version we see now. In 2013, LOEWE hired young British designer JW Anderson (a handsome guy) as the brand’s creative director.

As a young man, he was full of vigor and courage. As soon as he took office, he changed the logo of this nearly half-century-old brand and launched the logo we see now.

LOEWE old logo (left) VS new logo (right)

JW Anderson gave a very convincing reason for changing the brand logo: luxury goods should focus on designing something more substantial and “real” instead of placing it in a high position.  Therefore, the original complicated serif font was slightly adjusted. Compared with the old logo, the lines of the new logo are more concise, and the overall sense of space and fashion is more present. In the words of the new logo designer, “get rid of the overly artistic feeling and return to the most original source of inspiration for brand logo design.”

The threshold of art is not only about money, but also about understanding and perception. With this change of JW Anderson, LOEWE’s subsequent overall design style has become more trendy and youthful, attracting more attention from young groups and once again occupying the top of the fashion luxury market. (I won’t talk about money)

02. GIVENGHY

When I was young and ignorant (not really), I only knew about GIVENCHY and was obsessed with gossip, and completely ignored the knowledge behind the GIVENCHY logo.

The basic design concept of the Givenchy brand logo looks very similar to that of LOEWE at first glance, both use the letter “G” to perform symmetrical combination and deformation. After I was surprised and thought “Is it another gossip?” (No), I soon found that no one “copied” the other, and the design concepts were completely different.

The logo element of Givenchy is called the zigzag pattern. Yes, it is the zigzag pattern that has been popular in bronze, architecture and decoration in my country for thousands of years. However, this zigzag pattern is not the same as that zigzag pattern.

In China, the inspiration for the chevron pattern comes from weather phenomena such as clouds and lightning, symbolizing good luck; in ancient Greece, this pattern also often appears in designs and is called the “Greek chevron”, inspired by a famous ancient river in Greece, and the embodiment of wisdom and elegance in the Western narrative system. Due to this unique meaning, the “Greek chevron” has been poking at the aesthetic point of Western countries since its birth, and has been used by designers in the design of luxury brands with retro and elegant styles. (Cartier is mentioned here)

Greek key wall decoration

In the 1940s, designer Hubert de Givenchy (another handsome guy) became popular in the French fashion industry. Many celebrities at that time would regard a set of his specially designed clothes as a symbol of status. The reason is simple: the clothes designed by Hubert de Givenchy are too elegant.

Because it was so popular, Hubert de Givenchy founded his own brand in 1952 – Givenchy. When designing the brand logo, the elegant “Greek key” naturally became his first choice (of course, his last name is G, okay). Givenchy incorporated his own design concept into it, using the four letters “G” to interpret the brand’s four spirits: classic (Gneteel), elegance (Grace), pleasure (Gaiety), and Givenchy style (Givenchy). The four “G”s combined together form a deformation of the elegant “Greek key”, and GIVENCHY has become synonymous with elegance in the fashion industry.

03. Hermès

“We have no story because we ourselves are a living story.” The prominent carriage in the Hermès brand logo is proof of this statement, representing its history of producing saddles and harnesses.

The story of Hermès starts with Napoleon. Because, as the story of a nail that destroyed a country has been widely circulated in the West, Napoleon paid special attention to the design of horse harnesses, and asked the best “masters” to do the work strictly. Thierry Hermès, the founder of Hermès, was one of these “masters”, who was responsible for the production and manufacturing of horse harnesses and was a master in the army. After Napoleon was defeated, Thierry Hermès returned to Paris with the skills he had trained in the army and opened a small shop specializing in horse yokes, reins and other horse harnesses. This was the Hermès that later became popular all over the world and had long queues.

In the beginning, the Hermès brand logo did not have such an iconic “identity authentication” element. Instead, it adopted the serif letter design that was currently popular in the luxury goods industry. It was not until around the 1950s that the four-wheeled carriage element was incorporated into the brand logo.

 The brand logo on the early Hermès poster

In the logo, the horse boy is at the front of the two-seater four-wheeled carriage, while the master’s seat is vacant and waiting to be driven. Hermès’s interpretation of this is, “Although Hermès provides first-class products, how to show the characteristics of the products requires consumers’ own understanding and control.” Once this brand connotation of people-oriented and everything is available in me comes out, I will really applaud it forever. It not only emphasizes itself, but also highlights the style of consumers. Popular all over the world, long queues, Hermès, it deserves it!

It is said that the inspiration for the logo comes from the painting “Carriage and Horse Boy” created by Alfred Deller, a popular “equestrian” theme painter in France during the Napoleon III era. It can be said to be a very matching artistic endorsement. Currently, the painting is still collected in the Hermès Museum.

The painting of “Carriage and Horse Boy” and the design of the Hermès brand logo

I would like to add a very interesting point. In the Hermès book seal, the area around the chariot is not “empty” like the brand logo, but is decorated with many complicated and fancy double-snake winged staffs. The double-snake winged staff is a symbol of business and trade, and is also the artifact of Hermes, the god of business and travel in ancient Greek mythology. It can be said that it can represent the word “Hermès” very well, and it is also very beautiful.

04. Goyard

Goyard’s brand logo takes a “realistic” approach, resembling a pocket, which is consistent with its history of becoming famous for its hard luggage.

In an era when transportation was inconvenient and hard luggage was a necessity for travel, it once led the fashion trend of luggage and was one of the first choices of many celebrities such as the French royal family, American President Picasso, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Goyard family was originally engaged in wood-related work. Because of their familiarity and understanding of wood, they started to engage in the business of crates, boxes and packaging in 1792. In 1853, they began to focus on the field of luggage and started their own legendary journey. From building materials to luggage, this cross-border ability is unparalleled.

From 1853 to today, Goyard’s lasting appeal across two centuries is largely attributed to the classic “Y” pattern.

This pattern was created in 1892, four years earlier than LV. The four-color “Y” logo in an orderly arrangement in the pattern is the most profound memory of Goyard in the fashion circle. Goya’s iconic “Y” is composed of three Vs. In France, “Y” represents trees, which is the inspiration Goyard found in the roots of his family. Therefore, “Y” has become one of the most important elements in Goyard’s brand logo and is placed in the visual center.

When designing this pattern, a group of painters who were strongly influenced by Impressionism had just started a technical innovation. Instead of using outlines to divide the image, they chose small dot-like brushstrokes to draw. This was the Neo-Impressionism that was popular in the 19th century. The latest art and aesthetics, this trend Goyard must not miss. In the specific design of “Y”, Goyard used four flowers as inspiration, represented by four colors, and painted it through the pointillism technique of the post-impressionist school, bringing rich changes and liveliness without losing elegance.

05. Chrome Hearts

“Chrome Hearts’ silver is sold at the price of gold, and K gold is sold at the price of diamonds.” This comment from trendsetters on Chrome Hearts also reflects the brand’s market position to some extent.

As a Hollywood luxury brand founded in 1988, Chrome Hearts does not have the global influence of many old jewelry brands, but it has quickly established a foothold in the field of silver jewelry. Almost as soon as it was born, Chrome Hearts was clear about the path it wanted to take, and used rock stars to continuously strengthen its differentiated labels of “religion, rock, punk, and Gothic art”, and quickly became popular in subculture circles such as street, punk, hip-hop, and rock.

The founder of Chrome Hearts was once a prop master in Hollywood, specializing in all kinds of movie props and leather accessories. He has the convenience of “being close to the water and getting the moon first” in terms of celebrity potential. In terms of aesthetics, the founder of Chrome Hearts is also unique. He uses various visual designs in the brand logo to fully display the brand’s unique style.

The cross at the visual center is composed of four daggers, which represents the love and justice of religious beliefs and the sense of justice in the world that pierces evil. Many brands will incorporate the cross into their brand design, such as Vacheron Constantin. Chrome Hearts uses the French Scout Flower Cross, also known as the Oriole Flower Cross.

In the Western context, the iris represents the love and peace of the Virgin Mary (it sounds a bit silly, but it’s true), and contains a strong medieval religious spirit. The text in the logo uses a Gothic font, which is what we often see in various dark fairy tales/witchcraft movies. It is the kind of font that you can tell something is wrong with at first glance, and it takes the sense of mystery and punk to the extreme.

In product design, Chrome Hearts also uses a “sloppy feeling” to enhance it. Generally, metal jewelry is exquisite, but Chrome Hearts’ silver jewelry is large and rough. When making it, the 925 silver is deliberately oxidized to black before being polished, forming a design that looks like there are no details at first glance, but it is full of details when you look closely. The rich layers of gray and black make people feel that as long as you wear it, you will have a charming smoky voice when you open your mouth, haha.

06. JAEGER-LECOULTRE

A long time ago, I felt that the Jaeger-LeCoultre logo looked like a ship. Later, after learning about the brand story, I discovered that it is indeed a “ship”, and a giant ship of friendship.

The origin of the name Jaeger-LeCoultre is related to its two founders.

Jaeger-LeCoultre The predecessor of Jaeger-LeCoultre was a watch shop called “LECOULTRE”. The founder, Antoine LeCoultre, was a “blacksmith” who was obsessed with invention. He not only invented the gear mechanism of watches, but also invented the “micrometer” and “keyless winding” system to greatly improve the technology of watches. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand the things of scientists, just applaud them. Later, he left the “family business” and opened a handmade shop specializing in the production of precision watch components. In 1866, Antoine LeCoultre upgraded the handmade shop and founded a watch factory, and engraved the “LECOULTRE” logo on the dials of all watches.

At this point, the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand logo is only half completed.

In 1903, Edmond Jaeger, a watchmaker from Paris who worked exclusively for the French Navy, came to Switzerland to look for a partner. Edmond Jaeger was a watchmaker from the French Navy who had mastered the exclusive ultra-thin movement design technology, but there were few watch factories that could produce such watches. He found “LECOULTRE” and together with the grandson of Anthony LeCoultre (another inventor), he produced the first ultra-thin movement watch.

Under such an opportunity, the two independent brands got to know each other, reached a mutual cooperation, and combined their surnames to establish Jaeger-LeCoultre, one of the few movement export watchmaking companies in the world.

Since then, the logo of Jaeger LeCoultre has changed from the original LeCoultre to a combination of “J” and “L”. “J” and “L” back to back not only symbolize the close cooperation between them, but also make them a community of destiny and comrades who can trust each other.

At last:

I remember that there was a period of time when all luxury brands started to do subtraction in their logos.

Bold fonts, remove patterns, delete symbols, use pure letters to walk in the market, metaphors, symbols, hints, etc. are too complicated. The simpler the design, the more attention it can attract in the fast-paced era. However, when all brand logos are simple and unified sans serif letters, it is really difficult for me to tell who is who, and why they are regarded as beliefs or identities by people.

Fortunately, those brand logos that make me willing to stop and appreciate them are still there, and more brand logos like Burberry are returning.