The Logo As Design Motif and Marketing Concept
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Logo as Design Motif and Marketing Concept: A Case Study of Handbags and Hand Luggage By Jennifer Moore A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Human Ecology: Design Studies) at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN--MADISON 2013 Date of final oral examination: 4/16/12 This dissertation is approved by the following members of the Final Oral Committee: Beverly Gordon, Professor Emerita, Design Studies Virginia Terry Boyd, Professor Emerita, Design Studies Cynthia Jasper, Professor, Consumer Science Nancy Wong, Associate Professor, Consumer Science i Table of Contents Table of Contents i-v Abstract vi-vii List of Tables viii List of Illustrations ix-x Acknowledgements xi-xii Chapter 1: Introductory Material Rationale for this Study 1-9 Conceptual Framework 9-25 Rationale for the Selection of Handbags and Hand Luggage as the Case Study Subject 25-29 Significance 29 Research Questions 29-30 Working Propositions, Definitions, and Delimitations 30-35 Chapter 2: Review of Relevant Literature Handbags and Their Role in Fashionable Dress 37-40 The Ideology of Consumption: Consumers and Their Goods 40-52 The Business of Fashion 52-56 Postmodernism and Fashion 57-72 Branding and Brand Identity 72-80 ii A History of Fashion Before Mass Consumption 80-84 Chapter 3: Historical Background The Business of Fashion 85-89 The Designer and the Customer 89-97 Chapter 4: Methodology and Pilot Study Research Design Overview 98-100 Grounded Theory Approach 100-101 Content Analysis 101-109 Presentation and Analysis of Findings of Pilot Study 109-111 The Full Study 111-113 Historical Research 113-116 Theory Application and Development: The Logoed Product in Context 116-118 Chapter 5: Logo Development 1969-1989 Timeline 122 Overview 122-124 Emergence of Logos in High-Style Fashion 124-127 Summary of Data: Logo Aesthetics in the 1970s 128-133 iii High-Style Trends in the 1980s 133-134 Summary of Data: Logo Aesthetics in the 1980s 135 The Logo Arrives in Teen Fashion 135-139 Logo Aesthetics in the 1980s Teen Market 139-140 Designer Authority Asserts Itself in the Teen Market 140-141 Logo Meaning in the Teen Market 141-143 The Logo Infiltrates the Mass Market 143-152 The Logo in the Postmodern Marketplace: 1969-1989 152-155 The Two Worlds of Fashion Emerge 156-157 The Complexities of the Two Worlds of Fashion 157-166 Summation 166-167 Chapter 6: The Logo Evolves 1990-2009 Timeline 191 The Logo in High-Style 1990s Fashion 192-202 Logos in the 1990s Teen Market 202-206 The Mass Market in the 1990s 206-209 High-Style Logos in the New Millennium 210-221 The Teen Market in the Early 2000s 221-226 The Mass Market in the New Millennium 226-230 The Changing State of Fashion: 1990-2001 230-237 iv Summation 238-239 Chapter 7: Making, Marketing, Retailing: Logoed Handbags and Hand Luggage in the Global Marketplace Design and Manufacturing 267-269 The Fashion Press: Editorials and Advertising 269-273 Licensing, Oversaturation of the Market, and the Healing Powers of the Global Conglomerate 273-278 Merchandising the Mass Market and the Class Market: An Evolving Approach 278-282 Advertising the Brand 282-286 Retailing 286-291 In and Out: The Press 291-294 Summation 294-295 Chapter 8: The Logo in Situ—the Postmodern Consumer 303 The Postmodern Consumer in the Marketplace 304-309 Consumer Reliance on the Logo as an Expression of the Postmodern Condition 310-311 v The Logo as Proxy for Status, Taste, and Fashion Savvy 311-328 Identity Creation: Freedom and Confusion in Postmodern Fashion 328-335 Summation 335-337 Chapter 9: Conclusions 344 Review of Working Propositions and Delimitations 345-348 Final Thoughts 348-351 Summative Argument 351-360 Implications for Future Research 361-364 Bibliography 367-386 Appendices 387 Appendix 1: Aesthetic Analysis Worksheet: Vogue, Seventeen Magazine, Sears Catalog 388-389 Appendix 2: Advertisement Analysis Worksheet 390 Appendix 3: Editorial Analysis Worksheet 391 Appendix 4: Sears Catalogs Used in Content Analysis 392 Appendix 5: Interview Questions 393 vi Abstract There were three research questions that framed this study. What was the development of logoed handbags and hand luggage between 1969 and 2009? What does the development of logoed handbags and hand luggage reveal about the world of postmodern fashion? How do we define fashion in the modern marketplace? The goal of this study was to reveal the historical development of this specific type of accessory in tandem with the cultural and business phenomena that were the necessary and sufficient conditions to make this type of design relevant and successful for both producers and consumers. This analysis provided evidence that contemporary fashion is fragmented into two worlds and this necessitates the redefinition of fashion. Through the content analysis of catalogs, advertisements and fashion editorials, I developed a timeline of the introduction and proliferation of handbags and hand luggage with the designer logo as an external motif. I developed a context of historical and cultural variables that account for the success of these products. I used perspectives and theories generated by the fields of consumer science, consumer psychology, postmodern theory, and fashion theory as well as anecdotal evidence from interviews with consumers to make assertions about why these products have found such lasting traction. Through an examination of the logoed handbag and various forms of hand luggage as a case study, I explored fundamental changes that have occurred within the fashion industry in the last forty-one years in terms of aesthetics, business practices, and the very nature of what constitutes fashion. vii This study will make a significant contribution to the study of modern and contemporary fashion design by its detailed documentation and analysis of design aesthetics in conjunction with changing business practices. The profound change in aesthetic ideology that is demonstrated by the movement of the designer label from the interior of an object to a dominant place on the exterior is an important shift in design that had yet to be documented. A detailed examination of the development of this phenomenon both revealed and contextualized the profound changes that have occurred in the fashion system in a forty-one-year span. viii List of Tables 5.1 Logo type (Vogue): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 182 5.2 Logo type (Seventeen Magazine): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 183 5.3 Logo type (Sears Catalog): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 184 5.4 Method of logo execution (Vogue): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 185 5.5 Method of logo execution (Seventeen Magazine): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 186 5.6 Method of logo execution (Sears Catalog): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 187 5.7 Logo count (Vogue): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 188 5.8 Logo count (Seventeen Magazine): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 189 5.9 Logo count (Sears Catalog): 1969-1979 and 1980-1989 190 6.1 Logo type (Vogue): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 258 6.2 Logo type (Seventeen Magazine): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 259 6.3 Logo type (Sears Catalog): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 260 6.4 Method of logo execution (Vogue): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 261 6.5 Method of logo execution (Seventeen Magazine): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 262 6.6 Method of logo execution (Sears Catalog): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 263 6.7 Logo count (Vogue): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 264 6.8 Logo count ((Seventeen Magazine): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 265 6.9 Logo count (Sears Catalog): 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 266 ix List of Illustrations 1.1 Alexander McQueen Demanta clutch 36 3.1 Vogue subscription brochure 119 3.2 Vogue pattern service brochure 120 3.3 First editorial with logoed Gucci products (Vogue 1969) 121 5.1 Examples of types of logos 168 5.2 Author’s photograph of Dior bags: 1970 and 2006 169 5.3 Author’s photograph of handbags with continuous repeats 170 5.4 Pierre Cardin advertisement showing variety of logos (Vogue 1975) 171 5.5 Ted Lapidus advertisement (Vogue 1974) 172 5.6 Bosca advertisement (Vogue 1979) 173 5.7 Color Gear advertisement (Seventeen Magazine 1987) 174 5.8 Sears Catalog listing for Carriage Court Handbags (Fall/Winter 1981) 175 5.9 Author’s photograph of Carriage Court Jacquard bag 176 5.10 Advertisement for Raffael Handbags (Fashion Accessories Magazine 1979) 177 5.11 Louis Vuitton advertisement (Vogue 1973) 178 5.12 Author’s photograph of Dior wallet made by St. Thomas 179 5.13 Advertisement for Yves Saint Laurent luggage (Vogue 1981) 180 5.14 Advertisement for Diane von Furstenberg clutch (Vogue 1976) 181 6.1 Versace advertisement with integrated logo (Vogue 1992) 240 6.2 Beauty editorial with large Chanel logo (Vogue 1993) 241 6.3 Fendi advertisement with double-F repeat on velvet (Vogue 1992) 242 6.4 Editorial with fur Chanel bag with large logo (Vogue 1994) 243 6.5 Guess advertisement with logoed backpack (Vogue 1993) 244 6.6 Fendi advertisement with athletic gear inspired logos (Vogue 1997) 245 6.7 Louis Vuitton advertisement with limited edition bag (Vogue 1996) 246 6.8 Louis Vuitton advertisement by Bruno Dayan (Vogue 1998) 247 x 6.9 Last Look editorial with bags covered in continuous repeats (Vogue 1998) 248 6.10 Editorial featuring logoed messenger bags (Seventeen Magazine 1996) 249 6.11 Author’s photograph of Louis Vuitton bag with Richard Prince art 250 6.12 Chanel advertisement with cropped logo (Vogue 2004) 251 6.13 Dior advertisement with license plate logo (Vogue 2000) 252 6.14 Last Look with Louis Vuitton handbag of shagreen skin (Vogue 2005) 253 6.15 Dooney and Bourke advertisement with Vuitton knock-off (Vogue 2003)