Luxury fashion houses say no to blandification. Nostalgia is making a comeback.

Luxury fashion brands are saying goodbye to blandness and are once again embracing individualism. After years dominated by uniform, minimalist logos, major fashion players are returning to their roots and expressive visual identities to combat the crisis.

In recent years, the fashion world has resembled a gallery of sans-serif fonts – almost every luxury brand, from Balmain to Burberry , has begun speaking the same language: a stark, all-caps logo . Since around 2018, this phenomenon has even earned its own term – blandification – meaning "averaging" – and has led to a blurring of the distinctions between luxury icons. All in an effort to be more readable on smartphone screens and... in algorithms. But something has shifted. It's safe to say we're witnessing the end of this era. The fashion world is regaining its character, and it's starting with the logo.

Sans serif logo of the luxury fashion house Dior / Shutterstock

Minimalism? Or perhaps simply marketing pragmatism? Ever since Hedi Slimane rechristened Yves Saint Laurent Saint Laurent Paris and introduced a stark sans-serif logo , the fashion world has followed suit.

The logo was meant to be functional – visible on screen and aligned with the Instagram feed . At the same time, many brands started looking… exactly the same.

Today, however, we're witnessing a fascinating shift: a return to refined, often nostalgic logos . Under Daniel Lee's leadership, Burberry has unveiled a new-old logo with references to the brand's heritage.

Saint Laurent is flirting with its old serif typeface again. Louis Vuitton , since Pharrell Williams took the helm, has been exploring typographic variations, and Céline is bringing back monograms with the letter "C."

The logo change isn't just a matter of aesthetics—it's a symbol of a deeper transformation. After years in which luxury tried to speak the language of the masses, today it once again seeks to be elitist, and what's more, brands are once again competing for customers and wanting to be noticed. Faced with a sales crisis , the "average" logo became a burden—robbing the brand of its identity, which is now once again becoming the currency of luxury .