Wearing a label is fashion prostitution. Your body (bust or bottom) is not billboard. Your signature style is a unique statement that cannot be couched in a single, shallow brand.
If an item of clothing is truly worth the cloth its sewn from, it should stand on its own, sans stylized signature from the designer. You should be the defining mark on any ensemble. Clothes exist to enhance personal charm and charisma, not to initiate one into a supercilious status group.
Below I’ve collected labels from days gone by as well as days passing now, from fashion’s mass market to upper echelons:
Do you think labels reinforce personal brands or distract from them? Add your voice in the comments.
I believe labels are there for the people out there that want and need others to know that they own something with a big ‘name.’ I have a friend that is all about the image that expensive items provide for her. So she buys things, like that Coach bag, with the big C’s all over it, to shout to the world that she owns something Coach.
I think Labels distract from the person. What you wear is about the article of clothing, not who its made by. However, many will disagree and there is a large marketing business built around the label, not the actual item.
I hate labels! The one I always stayed away from when I was teen was the Tommy Hilfiger brand. My older sister and her friends all *had to have that brand but I figured I’m not paying to advertise them 😉 I prefer the classic Audry Hepburn look to a labeled out style. I did however have a co-worker think I bought a coach bag and was so mad that she thought I’d gotten one before her she literally wanted to choke me. I was flabbergasted at her reaction. Some people are just in major need of having people think they have money. I love your post!! Once again you are so right.
Labels are absolutely detestable fashion. I would also add that the designer behind the garment is equally unimportant. Clothing should enhance the individual, and as you said, support their “personal charm.” The quality, fit, and beauty of an item should be what determines a purchase, not the label or designer. It doesn’t matter “who” you’re wearing.
I couldn’t agree with you more.
labels scream duplicate. I like uniqueness in every aspect of life- including fashion. you are right – of course- an outfit should stand on it’s own because it is well made or has great details. not because it is plastered with logos.
I agree! Sometimes I’d see someone who is a bit label overload. It’s not a cute look.
I love, love, LOVE you for this post! In my opinion the designer purses are the worst offenders. Those graffiti-ed Coach and Louis Vuitton bags are actually offensive to the eyes. Then again, “Juicy” across the posterior is something I could live without as well.
I’m going to take an unpopular stance, I suppose. I’m not big on labels, but I do have certain nostalgia for Gucci’s GG print. It reminds me of my mom and her friends back in the 80s, I thought they were so glamorous… Perhaps they weren’t, but it has somehow stuck with me…
I also think about labels when it comes to the cars we drive… sadly, we can’t escape it…
Thanks for opening up this discussion– it’s quite interesting!
🙂
kiki
i personally do not prefer labels, but i do prefer quality and sometimes that means a label, but not always! I don’t have a problem with bags, but the bum and bust prints i do. Personal style is, well, personal so if you dig big logos and names i say go for it! However, i agree with your post!
Thank you dear friend. Can i just remind people of “PINK” on the posterior? Honestly having your rear employed as a billboard is not flattering to you or the designer. (sorry vickies-you may do wonders for the chesticles but the bootie- not so much). It just makes people look at the bulls-eye.
Totally agree!
Agreed!
Eat that Ed Hardy tattoo wear 😉
Does heavy stitching and jean bedazzlement count as branding?
because of this post you are at this exact moment my favorite person! THANK YOU and Amen!
yes. labels. silly. trying to be fashionable without really having any fashion. having the label tell people you are fashionable. not attractive. or endearing.
loves!
britt
I love this post. Like some people have mentioned, I love quality and don’t believe you need a label to get that–sometimes, however, you do get better quality with certain labels. Then the world finds out about them, they get a new marketing plan, and everything goes to pot.
Case in point–Coach. I used to carry Coach purses well over 15 years ago. Long before Coach was “Coach” and started putting Cs all over everything. I started to not like my favorite secret brand anymore once they started getting flashy (and were no longer a secret). Then, one day, I saw a 16 year old girl carrying her Coach C bag on her way to her job at Hot Dog on a Stick. I knew then that it was over for me and Coach.
i hear you! i can’t stand a label snob. and it’s even worse on your tush!
I completely agree.
Opting for a Coach purse in timeless solid leather is a great alternative to the C’s, and you still get Coach quality.
Skin Industries is currently the worst, in my opinion!!
I agree. I also think that it’s a quick way to waste money, because the “it” label or item is quickly “out”
In 6th grade I saved my money to buy some Girbaud jean shorts. I thought it would instantly make me cooler. Of course it didn’t, but the sting of not being able to wear them for that long before they were considered outdated taught me a valuable lesson.
I used to wear those Gap sweatshirts. A few years ago though, I decided a piece of clothing that has its label as its focal point is simply tacky. This is why I first stayed away from Aeropostale- almost everything in there says Aero on it! Now, the clothing simply does not suit my taste, but that’s not the point. Thanks for sharing!
You should not be defined by what brand or label you wear. I always stay away from that. The only thing I wear with a label is a band t-shirt I like. That’s all you’ll ever see me in
You mean I can have any “juicy” welour pants and top? Have fund this week. Love Gram-gram
When they’re screamed across one’s bosom or bottom, or plastered in 55-point font across a handbag, they bother me. I find that sort of regalia unnecessary and distracting. But on jeans, I rarely if ever notice. If the jeans fit, I say wear them!
Now, I do have to admit…I own a Dooney & Bourke handbag with all the little “db”‘s on it. I bought it from someone on craigslist because I love the color (and the zipper! oh how I love the multicolored zipper!). But I would have bought it even if it were NOT that brand, and in such cases I’m fine with labels.
It’s when someone repeatedly purchases labels just because they are a certain label, no matter how ugly or unflattering the article, that is obnoxious and distracting.
I have to agree with those that say some “labeled” brands are higher quality and I do wear some of those labeled brands. that have . I also like leather Coach bags because of the quality of the leather and hardware and the pretty linings. Interestingly, most people don’t notice, or at least don’t comment about, leather Coach bags. I don’t like gaudy large labels; they are very popular with the middle school students I teach. Perhaps more mature shoppers should take note of that- especially if they don’t wish to emulate 13 year old girls!
I don’t really have a strong opinion about it, I mean, to each their own. What I DO know is that personally, I don’t wear labels anywhere where people can see them. But I think it’s a matter of taste, more than anything else.
The designer would have to pay me dearly to plaster my rear end with their brand name.
I usually dont buy an item when a label is showing. I am not a fan.
Twila
blog.twilasvintageclothing.com
twilasvintageclothing.com
I’ll admit it…when I was younger, a label clad walking billboard kinda impressed me. Luckily, I’ve outgrown that. =)
Now, logos make me feel awkward. I don’t like the attention they bring, and I don’t like giving companies free advertising as I’m walking down the street!
Not a big fan of labels. Quality items speak for themselves.
I think labels distract from the person! What you were should be what you want to wear not the label. Found your blog from tatertots and jello!
distracting…if it’s a classy piece, does it really need to tell you that?
I don’t like labels and in fact won’t buy something I like if it screams it’s name. I realized the other day day when I was shopping at Anthro that there are the label type…and the non-label type. The label type usually (I apologize for stereotyping here) have gel nails and the non-label type feel free to paint their nails in fabulous colours. I am now a follower! Came over from Tatertots and Jello…
your blog is fab.
~Tara
We live in a world that is so full of consumers wanting the next big thing. . This creates an enormous turn over in our resources and disposal each year. How sad. I don’t believe in buying the brand for the sake of buying the brand. I agree with what most people and you have said here is that clothes should be more expressive of the person that wears them, and there for being a piece that you value and treasure and that hopefully lasts you a long time.
Labels are there to help sell more clothing. Some distract and others do not, depends on the size, color and style.
I don’t like label snobs either. Big flashy labels are so distracting from beautiful, clean design. But sometimes a subtle logo, label just add to the design of the product!
I try to avoid wearing labels at all cost. Granted, I will choose some garments over others based on the designer–because of the fit and quality of the garment, not because of a “name brand” logo plastered on the front of it.
I can live without the labels…something well-made that makes you look great is all you need. Trying to teach that to my teenager is a different story…have to admit, I do love those True Religions!!!
I used to work for Laura Ashley and I regularly cut out the labels in the dresses – they were scratchy – to the horror of my co-workers. My philosophy is that if it looks good or bad – doesn’t matter what the brand. You can’t buy solely on the tags!
I am not a fan of labels and feel the industry and comsumers have gone overboard with labelmania.
Wow I just found your blog! Im so excited to take a better look around! I love it!
Thank you for this post! I’ve always felt that obvious labels were at the least, overrated, and at worst, obnoxious. I just found your blog at Jello & Tatertots – I look forward to lots of fun reading!
I just learned of your blog from tatertots and jello and am hoping to win the Look Book. Boy do I need it! I have felt like I am in a midlife clothing crisis since having my 2 babies!
I hate when people stamp words across their bottoms!
I think labels are distracting from the person wearing the clothing! I try to steer away from labels on clothes, simply because it doesn’t matter how much I spend on the item. If it looks good on me, and I found a good deal, I’ll get it!
I agree! I think the purses are what get me the most, actually. If I am going to spend that money on a Coach purse, or any other, I’d rather it be the supple, soft leather without the brand all over it. I am more simple than the graphics all of my clothing… but I do have a question: designer jeans, they don’t have a large label on them, but they have specific stitching on the pockets… what about that for labeling??
i have to say im proud that i never ever have worn ‘jucie’ or anything across my butt!
im glad i found your blog!
coming from tt&j
Hello JenGlamGirl here following you now, thanks to JenJen of tatortots and jello…. I love me a coach brand…. 😉 and I love my skinny calvin K. jeans with the cute tag on the butt pocket! 😉
Glad to have found you! I’m cleaning out my closet TO-DAY! Coming from tt& j.
I just found out about your blog and can’t wait to get more into it and find out what is right for me!
Found you through Tater tots…
Great blog! I don’t mind a very very subtle label but strongly dislike large eye-catching labels.
I couldn’t agree more. I refuse to wear anything blatantly labeled with its designer’s name or logo.
I was having a chat about this topic with some European friends of mine, and this is actually one of the ways they say they can pick an American out of a crowd: designer emblazoned attire and accessories. They think such items are tacky over there, and frankly, I quite agree.
LOVE the old school Girbaud. Way to pull those out.
labels remind me of high school…
it KILLS me to see the juicy label on the butt of a 10 yr old!!!
I understand the label is the thing-but sometimes they need to THINK about placement and AGE appropriateness!
This post reminds me of William Gibson’s “Pattern Recognition.” The main character is so label-less she actually becomes an icon.
“CPUs. Cayce Pollard Units. That’s what Damien calls the clothing she wears. CPUs are either black, white, or gray, and ideally seem to have come into this world without human intervention.
What people take for relentless minimalism is a side effect of too much exposure to the reactor-cores of fashion. This has resulted in a remorseless paring-down of what she can and will wear. She is, literally, allergic to fashion. She can only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. She’s a design-free zone, a one-woman school of anti whose very austerity periodically threatens to spawn its own cult.”
I have never been a fan of lables. I mean really, what is the point other than you wanting people to know what your wearing?
I wanted Girbaud jeans desperately when I was in late junior high/early high school. Now I am SO thankful my mother refused to pay mega bucks just so I could have their name on my (ok, can’t bring myself to type the word… rhymes with botch).
The only thing worse than a label, is a fake one! Gotta love those knock off Coach bags! So tacky!
Just found you from TTNJ. I’d LOVE to win that look book! I’m now a follower!
warren5@comcast.net
I just found your blog through tatertots and jello. I am now a follower and am excited to look around some more. i would love one of those look books, I think I could really benefit from one. 🙂
I think differently than most of the people commenting. First, there’s a difference betweens labels and logos. I do buy certain brands and labels because I like them, but I don’t wear their logos all over my clothes and body. Now, as for certain purse/bag designers and labels/brands, I consider them a work of art. Someone went to a great deal of time to draw and articulate what they wanted their design to say. I think it’s wrong for people to buy fake designs and bags just because they want to be showing off the label or a particular logo. I also agree that there are many people that buy into the bag craze. Buy it because you like it and it makes you happy.
Hi there! I’m stopping by from Tatertots and Jello. I don’t hate labels, but I certainly don’t go around with a Juicy Couture label slapped on my butt. I don’t particularly like to “advertise” for a designer when I carry a bag, but I do like Coach bags.
As a young mom, I have a few friends who want EVERYONE to know when they carry a designer bag or wear a designer dress. It makes me roll my eyes.
Good discussion. 🙂
Distract, but i do <3 the guess one:O)
Found you through Tatertots & Jello! Loving your blog so far. When I worked in retail I was apt to wear labels a little more often. Some labels are just tacky though!
The Juicy across the bottom is the worst! I especially hated seeing it on my 12-year-old niece! Bad enough on a grown woman … particularly horrible on a young girl!
found you on tatertos and jello. I am loving your blog!!
Yeah, not a fan of labels even though we do have a few sweatshirts with them but if you are wearing a sweatshirt it doesnt really matter.
I thin the Juicy pants are the worst…
I do think there is a line where we shouldn’t brand ourselves in the name of fashion but can participate freely in buying for the asthetic look of it. By which I mean buying the cute Coach bag because you love the look of the design, not that it screams COACH!
I’m not a label gal and never have been. As long as it looks good on me and a great price then it’s sold! 🙂 Great blog!
I hate labels!
Wow, that Guess label brings back memories! 🙂
I have never understood the “Coach” bag thing. Average style, average construction, exhorbitant price, name slapped ALL OVER it. 90% of them are not even cute in my opinion. But they’ve created this allure about themselves: “COOOAAACHH..oohh, you’re SOMETHING if you have a Coach bag”. And then they charge an arm and a leg, and women come running. I’ve seen people with barely 2 cents to their names carrying coach bags. Thanks, but I can carry cracker crumbs, random papers and dirty diapers just as well in a bag that I happen to think is cute and cost me $15 at Marshalls.
Great post, I’m here from your T&J link up, and I’ll be back<—said in bad A.S. impersonation. {wink, wink}
A label can enhance an image but like most things when taken to extremes, overshadows the image.
I used to be all about labels…when my mom wouldn’t buy them for me…then I was even more about them when I was clothing designer…and now I could care less…quality, where a product is made, and style are my deciding factors…sometimes they are labels, sometimes they are not. Some people take it to extreme…I know there are ladies I refer to as the Coach ladies because all they ever talk about is their new coach bag, etc. One group used to only wear Juicy…the list goes on.
can’t stand labels on clothes. not at all.
I am not a label needer. In fact, I usually cut out the tags because they bother my delicate skin….
I enjoy making my own things. I just posted about a shirt that I made from two scarves. You may like this, or hate this, but I am going to share the link anyway:
http://www.potholesandpantyhose.com/A/Arts_%26_Crap.html
Hope you enjoy!
i have that same shot of me in guess jeans. it’s from 1987.
i spent all of my hard earned babysitting $ to buy those jeans in an attempt to return to the “in crowd.” the one i was kicked out of for not having guess jeans.
needless to say i detest labels.
I hate labels. I just want something that fits and looks good on me and not feel embarrassed about what brand it is.
I think they are distracting… To the clothing/accessory item and to the person wearing them.
The graffiti wrapped purses are silly to me, but the “juicy” and “pink” bums are just ridiculous.
This was obviously the “in” thing during the 90’s- the era of consumption and “look at me” wealth. I’ll never forget the crystal “bebe” t-shirts.
That being said, I still believe there are aspects of today’s fashions that are just as suggestive of “wealth.”
I’m not a fashion stylist, but I can usually tell where something came from by looking at it. Unless everyone is scrounging independent boutiques (wouldn’t that be nice?) there are usually the common choices: Gap, Banana, Old Navy, Anthro, JCrew…
I wish it wasn’t so, but the quality of a garment is really easy to tell- and of course, usually a better garment costs more (not always, though!)
I hate labels, too, but I’m also not fond of entire ensembles from Anthro. No offense to you at all, but Anthro, in my opinion, is today’s prime example of the “visible label”. I love their style, and shop there often (on the sales racks), but it’s pretty easy to tell which garments came from that store- and we all know they don’t come cheap.
I just think the most detestable thing in the entire world, considering the way so many of our world lives, is overtly flaunting wealth- by labels or excessive jewelry, or a bad attitude.
agreed – they are even worse on babies!
This is so true!
I can’t say that high school had me as an independent and very cool unlabeled girl. There was definitely some obsession with having the right brands and wearing “all American Eagle” or whatever.
Labels divide. They classify people as “in” enough or “willing-to-drop-a-ton-on-this-bag” enough, and it’s so shallow and sickening.
Plus, what a creativity murderer!
I’m not thinking that I’m better than someone who is into labels, but I feel more content now, not thinking there’s a pressure to spend a certain amount of brands.
“I believe labels are there for the people out there that want and need others to know that they own something with a big ‘name.’ I have a friend that is all about the image that expensive items provide for her. So she buys things, like that Coach bag, with the big C’s all over it, to shout to the world that she owns something Coach.” I agree, Naomi! Horrid Abercrombie, American Eagle, Hollister, Aeroprostale, etc. Just horrid!