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When it comes to designing a logo for a fashion brand, designers need to understand the brand personality and its intended audience, as well the client’s needs, long-range plans, and of course, the products. Distilling all this information into a single, strong logo that encompasses all the brand values and will grab maximum attention (and most importantly, make the logo memorable) requires deep research into the

current trends in the fashion and beauty industry.

Logo design for fashion, cosmetic and beauty brands relies a great deal upon the font choice. Many of the most important brands in these industries use high-contrast serif fonts, for an extra-feminine and sexy look, and some of the logos add a fancy swash or a cool ligature for a unique look.

Explore more about Lingerie Typeface here

Lingerie Typeface in use by Vogue Korea. Lingerie Typeface available here

Commissioning a custom logotype from a professional typographer requires a greater initial investment, but it pays off in a truly unique logotype. Custom type and logos require an inordinate amount of attention to small details, consuming many work hours to perfect the curves and interior spaces of the letters and hone the spacing between letters to super-precise levels. Careful attention to white space and character spacing

in font design (which most viewers never even think about) is part of what distinguishes the best typefaces from the thousands of available fonts.

Remember the Gap’s failed brand relaunch in 2010 that was so bad, the company brought back their old logo? The new logo was crowdsourced, meaning that anyone could supply a design. (Just in case you were wondering who needs graphic designers, this really proves the point: EVERYONE DOES). The short-lived new logo was entirely forgettable, devoid of personality and random-appearing: all qualities that are the kiss of

death for a strong brand identity.

In 2016, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art introduced a new logo, designed by the well-known firm of Wolff Olins, that was met with widespread negative response from both the public and the graphic design community. The museum decided to keep using the new logo, although most designers point to its weird smashed-together letter combinations, the use of the word “The” as one half of the entire logo, and the general lack of connection between the feel of the wordmark and the institution it represents as evidence of a design gone off the rails.

A good logo design takes time and care, research and thought. Above all, it must demonstrate a clear understanding of the brand, who it speaks to, and what it represents in order to communicate effectively Whether you’re a fashion brand owner, graphic designer, or principal of a branding studio, you need to decide whether you wish to create your own logo or to contact a professional typographer to customize a unique logo design.

Moshik Nadav, the owner of Moshik Nadav Typography, a type design foundry based in New York City, specializes in typeface design and custom logos for the fashion industry and can customize a unique logotype to make your brand (or your client’s brand) look every bit as good as the big players in the field.

Here are a few examples of his work:

Moshik Nadav Typography custom type design.
Ask for a custom type design

Moshik has also developed several fonts, including Lingerie Typeface and Paris Typeface, that allow designers to play with glyphs, alternate characters, and swashes to create customized logos on their own. With a little time and experimentation, every designer can develop exciting, unique logos that really stand out from the pack.

Here’s a quick look at some of the fashion world’s most memorable logos:

1. Lou & Gray Logo

Lou & Gray an Ann Taylor LOFT lifewear brand launched in 2014, uses one of Moshik Nadav’s custom-designed sexy ampersands in its logo and throughout the store as part of its visual merchandising. The two single-syllable brand names of the client, set in a quiet sans serif type, are set off beautifully by Nadav’s overscaled, dramatic ampersand.

Lou and Grey ampersand. Designed by Moshik Nadav Typography.

2. Valentino Logo

Valentino Garavani launched his brand in 1960. Today, Valentino’s simple yet chic logo design set in a classic high-contrast Didone typeface is not overloaded with details and reflects the brand’s main quality of timeless elegance. The spare V inside an oval is an instantly recognizable wordmark.

Valentino timeless logo.

3. Salvatore Ferragamo Logo

Salvatore Ferragamo was founded in 1928. The brand’s first logo was handwritten, and after some switches back and forth between handwriting and typesetting since then, today’s logo has returned to a refined designer’s signature in a bold, confident custom typeface that mimics handwriting—the best of both worlds.

Salvatore Ferragamo confident logo.

4. Giorgio Armani Logo

Giorgio Armani was established in 1975. The brand has had only two logo designs in its history, both of which are still in use today. One features a stylized geometric eagle, and the other is an elegant monogram, composed of a G and an A combined to form a circle. Both versions spell out the brand name in all caps using a Didone modern serif typeface; the eagle version uses a thicker, less-contrasty version than the monogram version, which is also more tightly letterspaced.

Giorgio Armani all caps famous logo.

Giorgio Armani GA round logo.

5. Chloe Logo

Chloe, established in 1952, is a sophisticated brand, sleek and modern, with a slightly retro feel. The soft curves of the letters and graceful diagonal terminals on the ascenders of the classic typeface used for the logo reflect the brand’s romantic character and tenderness. The sturdy letterforms also hint at strength as well.

Chloe modern logo.

6. Cartier Logo

Cartier was founded in 1847 in Paris. Its logo dates to the early 1900s, and since then it has undergone few minor modifications. The iconic typographic Cartier logo and double-reversed C mark are dignified and graceful, reminiscent of the engraving on fine sterling silver and evoking luxury and taste.

Cartier iconic logo.

7. Bottega Veneta Logo

Bottega Veneta was founded in 1966. In a little slap at competitor Louis Vuitton, the company began using the tag line “When your own initials are enough” in its advertising around 1970. As business faltered in the 1980s, the company changed its image and began stamping a BV logo on its products. This was followed by a reversal in the 1990’s when the logo was removed from the goods and the all-cap, perfectly letterspaced square serif font was once again allowed to speak for itself.

Bottega Veneta logo.

8. Bulgari Logo

Bulgari got its start toward the end of the 19th century in Rome. Its first logotype in the early 1920s consisted of the first initial of founder Sotirio Bulgari’s first name, followed by his last name, typeset in a lapidary font. Today’s all caps-logo still uses the classic Roman “V” in place of the “U” in its name. The wide assertive letters have a hint of playfulness about them: look at how the leg of the R looks as though it’s about to take a little walk on its own.

Bottega Veneta fancy logo.

9. Kate Spade NEW YORK Logo

Kate Spade was established in 1993. The brand’s current logo uses a modified transitional serif font, lowercase for the brand name and all caps for New York, both slightly letterspaced, to evoke a casual, unpretentious everyday chic. A previous incarnation of the logo featured a playing card spade character, which was eventually dropped from the branding and incorporated into the actual products as patterns or embossing instead.

Kate Spade New York logo.

10. Jimmy Choo Logo

Jimmy Choo founded his luxury shoe brand in 1996, with a typographically distinct logo that takes advantage of the double M’s and O’s in his first and last names. A pair of tall skinny Ms contrasts nicely with very wide, round O’s to create a memorable logo. The high-waisted H adds even more personality.

Jimmy Choo unique logo.

10. Hugo Boss Logo

Menswear line Hugo Boss has been around 1924, and has 2 core brands, Boss and Hugo. The main brand logo features the word BOSS typeset in a powerful, low-contrast (some would say bossy) serif, while the entire brand name appears beneath it in a far more delicate modified Universe font. The logo conveys both strength and subtlety in just a few letters.

Hugo Boss logo.

Moshik Nadav Typography’s selection of beautiful fonts will add instant style to fashion design projects, from print magazines and web designs to environmental displays for fashion and luxury clients. Explore the fashion fonts. To commission a custom logo design, feel free to ask for a quote.