The cultural phenomenon of logo hairstyles In November 2006, Kanye West caused a stir when he turned up to a FENDI party in Tokyo with the Italian labels monogram shaved on the side of his head. The immaculate branding, shaped up by Ye’s then personal barber IBN Jasper, might’ve been etched in celebration for NIGO’s collab with the luxury label, but it was also testament to his love the brand - Ye and Virgil Abloh famously interned at the labels in 2009. Ye isn’t the first rapper to inscribe a logo on his head as a pledge to his favourite brand. In 2001, Lil Kim famously had hair stylist Dionne Alexander brand her wigs with designer logos. Alexander was responsible for the Chanel logo bangs for a the Manhattan File magazine cover and also the blonde wig covered in Versace Greek keys that Lil' Kim wore to the SS01 couture Versace show in Milan - both designs were created using simple stencil and a magic marker The styles Alexander created in the early 00s are still referenced today. In 2020 Cardi B wore a blonde pony tail covered in LV monograms, created by Tokyostylez. More recently @heavn commissioned @tomikono to create branded extensions for a social campaign. Other logos have been popping up on the feed like the Balenciaga stencil @killla.kate wore to the recent SS23 show in nyc. It’s not all about luxury logos though. Anyone who grew up in the 90s will remember when people shaved the logos of famous sportswear brands in their head. In Russia, Gopnik’s pledged their allegiance to Adidas with three stripe motifs (a look referenced by Gosha Rubchinskiy for FW18), while Nike’s legendary swoosh was a favourite for British youth. More recently, the movement has expanded into wider aspects of youth culture. Online you can find everything from X-Box and Apple logos to more peculiar designs like Beats By Dre headphones or branded Mohawks from @mohawkbobfan. This cultural phenomenon certainly chimes with the logomania obsessed youth of today, but what makes it different is that back then kids did it simply for the love of the brand - there was no paid sponsorship behind the logos on their heads. Instead it emerged as a cultural identifier all on its own