A few seasons ago monograms were all the rage with luxury fashion houses such as Prada offering the possibility of adding customisable letters to various products including backpacks, bags, trolleys, and sunglasses. Yet the trend now seems to have shifted towards typography and alphabets.
This is actually not a new obsession: passionate art and fashion fans may remember Erté's famous "feminised" alphabet in his instantly recognisable and elegant Art Deco style.
Quite often, children's books about alphabets were elevated to proper art thanks to the detailed images illustrating each letter: as you may remember from a previous post, Alphabet in Pictures by Alexandre Benois, a children's book published in Saint Petersburg in 1904 included the letters of the Russian alphabet in 35 full page chromolithographs, with beautiful drawings inspired by folklore, popular fairy tales or Bible stories.
The history of art also includes further experimental books revolving around alphabets, such as Abeceda ("Alphabet", 1926), a poem on the forms, sounds and function of the alphabet by avant-garde Czech writer Vítězslav Nezval with dancer Milča Mayerová photographed in poses representing each of the letters, and design, typography, and photomontages by Karel Teige.
Letters and alphabets came back in fashion around 4 years ago with D&G's A/W 2011-12 collection, that featured pencil skirts, leggings, trousers, sweaters and shirts in bright colours covered in alphabet prints.
Then the alphabet trend disappeared for a few seasons before resurfacing at the end of last year.
Before Christmas, Issey Miyake offered the chance to their site users to create messages for family members and friends employing limited-edition animated typography that included the entire alphabet from A to Z. Each letter was allocated a unique sound, so that the final message came out as a one-of-a-kind melody.
The same letters were also used to decorate the window of the brand's London flagship store in Brook Street, where it was possible to buy limited-edition products from six Issey Miyake brands, all in the shape of the animated typography.
The latest designer who opted to move from typography and alphabets is Mary Katrantzou. Her Resort 2015 collection featured see-through pieces covered in embroidered, jacquarded or embossed calligraphy and fonts, and was inspired by a wide range of graphic ideas including illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells and works by legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser.
Katrantzou also developed last year a collection of four clutches (in a mix of materials including snakeskin and perspex with glitter, tortoiseshell and wood effects) spelling her name, and recently released for the Spring/Summer 2015 season the next installment of her alphabet clutch bags (featuring letters 'D', 'A', 'N', 'C' and 'E').
The designer has now taken her obsession with typography to the next level with a collection of alphabetical tote bags. Entitled "Initials", the 26-piece collection includes coated canvas totes (with matching zipped clutches) with prints dedicated to all the letters of the alphabet, reworked in an arty way.
The prints were the result of the "Mary's A to Z" project that the designer created last year with online art platform ArtStack (the series was exhibited on the site and then turned into a range of T-shirts and sweaters).
The prints could be considered as surrealist mixes of images produced by the designer's fantasy combined with Erté's alphabets, Maxfield Parrish's graphics, Antonio Basoli's architectural engravings from his Alfabeto Pittorico (Pictorial Alphabet) compositions, and paintings by Tristram Hillier, Edward Hopper or David Hockney (think about the palette and composition style that Hockney adopted for "American Collectors" View this photo to get an idea).
All the bags - released in a limited edition run of 20 - are now available on e-commerce site Matches Fashion.As the price ($1,070 each) is definitely not for everybody and there are also very few bags around, if you like the trend a good idea is to start your own little DIY project and come up with a personalised alphabet tote bag.
In the meantime, you can expect the next level of the trend to hit other disciplines very soon, so it's just a matter of weeks before we will be seeing colouring book for adults à la Johanna Basford, revolving around the alphabet.
If, while waiting for the next alphabet inspired product, you ever wonder why this trend is so popular, you will have to go back to the 1800s to find an answer.
In a letter written in 1839 while travelling, Victor Hugo provided interpretations of all the letters of the alphabet - L was the leg and foot; D the back; M a mountain or a camp with two adjoining tents; N a closed door with a bar running diagonally across it and so on. Hugo's letters included a series of human activities and disciplines that went from geometry and astronomy to war - in a nutshell, his alphabet was a book of human existence. And that's exactly the answer to why this trend is so popular: as Hugo stated, "Human society, the world, and the whole of humankind is to be found in the alphabet."
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