Designer brands are more about heavy branding than ever, gaining free advertisements from anyone who can afford to wear them. Shoes, socks, pants, shirts, glasses and hats are blank slates for promotion.

What used to be a quiet monogram or an embroidered tag is now a pattern or graphic that’s the centerpiece of the original product.

For instance, the iconic Louis Vuitton tote bag, which can be yours for $2,170 – but isn’t the repeating logo pattern so chic?

It’s highly customizable, too. Customers can add their own patch to the bag!

They can personalize with a patch that advertises Louis Vuitton, another patch that advertises Louis Vuitton or a different patch that advertises Louis Vuitton!

Reanee Rowell, a sophomore visual communications major, feels that big name brands are reserved more for elite fashion circles.

“I mean, the fashion I tend to see where there’s a lot of branding is stuff like runway fashion, maybe Dior, Rick Owens, that kind of thing,” said Rowell, “I know in some niche internet communities, that kind of stuff is highly coveted, and everyone’s always wearing that.”

More often than not, wearing designer is more about status than fashion. If people actually like the look, that’s fine. But do they actually like it, or were they told to like it because it’s Prada?

Some things are best left to the professionals, and that includes fashion. However, it doesn’t take a fashionista to realize that some things are blatant cash grabs. Head-to-toe logos advertising Gucci are a free promotion for the brand.

Actually, the customer ends up paying to become the model.

Rowell said it best. 

“I think, instead of making clothes that make you a walking advertisement, branding should be built through unique ideas that make them stand out from everyone else,” Rowell said.

There are enough methods for advertisements to manipulate people; let’s not encourage walking billboards alongside them.