Logomania Is Back—Here’s How to Wear the Latest Street Style Trend

Fashion is in the midst of a sea change—or a few, as the case may be. Minimalism is on the wane, while romanticism reigns. Estate-sale maximalism has reached fever pitch, its presence now palpable even on the racks at Zara and Topshop, thanks to champions like Alessandro Michele at Gucci. Likewise, the industry on the whole seems to be taking a long, hard (or, as the case may more aptly be, cheeky and exuberant) look at institutional notions of “bad taste.” Chief among those notions? Logomania’s glorious return.

The Spring ’16 collections came branded to the hilt, from Loewe and Lanvin to Pucci and Vuitton (where the house’s signature monogram had seemingly leapt from the bags onto even more lust-worthy leather vests and jackets). Rather than the bougie branding of certain It items gone by—ye olde Dooney & Bourke, et al—these new iterations fly with playful irreverence in the face of what’s naff or not; in the case of Gosha Rubchinskiy, it’s a riff on Soviet-era consumer desires and the resulting, ersatz takes on American sportswear. The reason the trend has legs right now is that it’s less about status, and more about reappropriating the cool-girl possibilities of wearing a house logo in a way that’s not letting it wear you. Or as logo maestro Jeremy Scott told us: “I love the power of brand iconography, but like anything in fashion, you have to use the right ingredients at the right time.” How to strike that golden ratio in time for Spring? Our suggestions, in the slideshow.