The World’s Most Famous Monogram Logo

The Louis Vuitton logo is one of the earliest symbols of modern luxury. In 1888 when it first appeared it was the first time that a manufactured object had a brand name visible on its exterior.

Distinctive and instantly recognisable

Maison Vuitton used a few different patterns prior to the Monogram – starting with the Trianon grey canvas in 1854, revolutionising the history of luggage by making it airtight, lightweight. They were also stackable for the first time for long voyages as previously all trunk designs were kept rounded on top so that water can run off it. Trying to stay ahead of imitators it was followed by two different striped designed and the Damier pattern, the alternating brown and beige squares, which was the founder – LV’s – last creation.

But the updating of patterns didn’t deter plagiarists and the company had to react either defensively or creatively. Louis’s son, Georges Vuitton realised that instead of geometric patterns he needed to use a pattern entirely unique to Louis Vuitton. In 1888 he came up with the pattern what we now call the Monogram – using the colours of beige and brown of the previous Damier checkerboard pattern for continuity, which throughout the times would become a genuine symbol of authenticity for the brand.

The Monogram pattern’s familiarity has grown so great that we hardly notice it anymore. But only when we realise that it hasn’t changed since its inception and examine it in detail do we realise how much meaning there is in it.

The monogram pattern is made up of four ornaments – three stylised floral motifs combining the geometric with the botanical and the interlaced monogram of the company’s founder.

The motifs

The first floral motif is a diamond shape with concave sides with a four-petal flower in the centre.

The second floral motif is the reverse of the four-pointed star.

The last motif is a circle with a four-petal flower with four rounded corners and a dot in the centre.

And finally the monogram – the L and the V are interlaced in such a way as to remain perfectly legible.

The pattern

These separate shapes that are echoes of each other already have a formal interplay between them, but the rigorous order by which they are ordered is what creates a clever graphic perfection.

The structuring motif is the four pointed star or diamond shape. It forms a regular grid by appearing on every other vertical and horizontal and diagonal line of the canvas pattern and the other ornaments alternated inside that grid.

The monogram was a tribute to Georges’ father and all motifs that he designed are four-pointed and four-petal shapes that resemble four-leaf clovers – perhaps a superstitious gesture to bring him luck to the business he overtook from his father. The number four is also considered a symbolic number of stability and the representation of all earthly things (four elements, four season etc. )

Symbolism and the hidden depths of the monogram

An artist’s signature The monogram pattern also echoes the symbolic nature of signatures that artists use to mark their work. An artist’s signature makes the artwork unique and authentic and the LV monogram elevates Louis Vuitton products to the status of objet d’art or at least suggested at the time that luxury goods had an artistic dimension.

A strong example of an artist’s signature becoming a recognisable marque is that of the 16th century northern Renaissance artist – Albert Dürer. He marked his drawings and paitings with his initials – his famous ‘A’, which resembled a “torii” (a Japanese gateway), protectively rising above the ‘D’.

An aristocratic sign Elements of the Monogram pattern derive from heraldry. It could also be seen as a coat of arms, a sign of distinction, excellence and rarity.

An invitation to travel The motifs of the Monogram pattern can be found in works by various civilisations from 5th century Egyptian ‘coptic’ tapestries to religious medieval and Gothic architecture, such as the Doges Palace in Venice (directly above). Medieval art is another sources of inspiration that should be considered.

source: http://www.core77.com/blog/graphic_design/early_graphic_design_the_japanese_mon_20986.asp

The historical puzzle of the Monogram Placing it in the aesthetic and cultural context of late 19th century France, which was the period of the modern movement of decorative arts – Art Nouveau – and we can also detect Far Eastern influences, which were referred to as “japonisme” at the time. Japan has a tradition of family crests called “mon”, which play a similar social role to European coat of arms of identifying individuals and lines of descent. There is a perplexing coincidence between the Japanese word “mon” and the first syllable of Monogram.

The monogram canvas represents a group of signs with universal power: that has references to cultures, societies, historical eras and geographical locations. It catches people’s attention, but interpreted differently by all who see it. The secret of its success lies in this universality.

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Typography in Fashion

Words and fashion are like two peas in a pod – acres of blogs and magazine articles dedicated to decoding the will of designers, seeking to read between the lines and discover the garment’s hidden agenda. This season fashion is returning the favour as the alphabet appears to provide inspiration to some of fashion’s biggest names and a whole trend is dedicated to typography.

Mary Katranzou pays homage to the crimson curves of the Olivetti Lettera 35 typewriter and in another dress she incorporates what looks like the keypad of an old fashioned mobile phone into her digitally printed garments. This dress is also featured in the November 2012 issue of British Vogue in an article dedicated to that glorious, very British past time – the car boot sale.

A more playful take on the trend appears in the Stella McCartney’s Autum 2012 Resort Collection, which includes elaborate calligraphy and crested initials creating a fusion of clean, modern cuts with classic country manor heritage fonts.

Versace’s heavily religous iconography plays tribute to Gianni Versace’s gothic themed final collection and features biblical block capitals as well as Byzantine crosses appearing on dresses and bags.

But it’s not just the catwalk that adopts the written word and typography – watch this space as Trésor prepares to launch a new collection on Trésor Shop !

Minimalist Packaging

Trésor have been looking at packaging in response to a recent creative brief. We found these rather inspirational.

The coated paper bag by Jil Sander for the Fall 2012 menswear collection – with stitched seams on each side, two gold-coloured metal eyelets and a stamped logo at its base. It is a take on the brown paper lunch bag and it costs $290 and it is therefore an interesting juxtaposition of the throw-away and the keepsake. The bag is named ‘Vasari’, which, with its ‘long rectangular silhouette’ perhaps alludes to the the painter and architect Giorgio Vasari or the ‘Vasari Corridor’ connecting two Palazzos in Florence – the Palazzo Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti.

The image below featuring Chanel packaging is from a Tim Walker shoot for the April 2012 issue of American Vogue shot with Kate Moss at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, just before it closed for refurbishement. The Chanel brand stands for understated elegance, the use of black and white, straight lines, and rectangular designs represent purity. When a customer opens up a Chanel box, they see the product right away so they can experience it immediately.

© Vogue

Fendi’s three dimensions, two lengths

Fendi’s Spring Summer 2013 ready-to-wear collection is a great feat of Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi. Notions of spatial geometry and dimensionality are fused with the house’s traditional and time-honoured skills in a very intelligent way.

Fendi’s garments and accessories traditionally have an artisanal touch applied to every single item. In this collection for the house’s 87th anniversary they are using a technique called ‘saldatura’ to bind materials with a kind of electrical welding, instead of stitching, which is still done by hand – almost as if they are bringing ‘hand-made’ notions into the digital-era.

As for inspiration Lagerfeld sites the Sistine Chapel frescos, more specifically for the shared use of perspective: the black and coloured borders framing the inner panels gave them a 3-dimensional quality, but there was also a 2-dimensional layering of architectural shapes and multiple lengths – “Three dimensions, two lengths” as Mr Lagerfeld put it.

The accessories had a kind of sculptural and playful aesthetic to them. Some of the upper panels of footwear come as a kit of parts, that allows the end-user to assemble them, Lego-like and again places an emphasis on the hand-made quality. Some of the handbags remind us of Rubik’s cubes. (see above).

Finally what makes it such a graphic collection are the large interlocking F’s of the Fendi logo on some of the jackets (not pictured) and the interesting colour palette. The colours make references to the colour theory of Josef Albers. One of the studies visible in the collection is the ‘relativity of colour’ – a theory that investigates how the same colour can be made to appear as two different colours. In the Albers example above the ochre square is the same colour at the top as at the bottom, but it appears as two different colours – lighter at the top and much darker, almost brown at the bottom and no normal human eye is able to see both squares alike.

This means that using the same colours in different contexts and garments will give them new meaning and this results in immense versatility and intellectual depth in the collection.