The Italian fashion landscape is renowned for its elegance, innovation, and timeless allure. Among the plethora of iconic brands, A-Style stands out as a unique player with a fascinating history and a journey of evolution that has shaped its identity over the years. The origin of A-Style traces back to 1999, when a creative young graphic design student named Marco Bruns conceived a logo featuring the letter A with two points on its left side.
Although the graphic seemed innocuous, it had an underlying erotic reference. This explained the enjoyment it brought to Bruns’s friends. Inspired by its reception, Bruns transformed the design into a series of stickers and distributed them throughout Milan, and affixed them to the city’s traffic lights. The article delves into the fascinating logo of A-Style, among other details of the company.
The Genesis of the A-Style Logo (1999 – Present)
Designed by the founder, Marco Bruns, the A-Style logo did not change since its inception in 1999. It features a vertically-oriented rectangle that looks like a road sign in black and yellow. Inside the rectangle is placed a stylized letter “A” in black with its diagonal sidebars extended at the bottom and bent to the sides. Alongside the letter “A” are two solid black dots – one at the top left and another to the left of the horizontal bar. Below the yellow background was written the brand name in white uppercase against a black background.
The Elements of the A-Style Logo
Font
The understated and minimalist white lettering in the primary A-Style badge employs a clean and simple sans-serif typeface. It provides a harmonious counterpoint to the bold central element of the logo. The typeface used in this emblem is similar to fonts such a s Arial Arabic Bold or Akhbar Bold.
Colour
Turning to the color scheme defining A-Style’s visual identity, it revolves around a blend of yellow and black, complemented by the inclusion of white. Yellow, symbolizing energy and dynamism, is paired with black, representing power and confidence, while white contributes a sense of professionalism and trustworthiness to the overall palette.
The History of A-Style
The story of A-Style began in 1999, when Marco Bruns, a graphic design student, created the now-famous logo. What started as an inside joke among friends with a taste for surfing and snowboarding, using the letter A with two dots as a subtle, cheeky reference, quickly gained notoriety. Bruns printed yellow and black stickers of the logo and began placing them on traffic lights throughout Milan. This act of sticker-bombing attracted widespread attention and curiosity, which eventually spread to other parts of Europe.
The mysterious logo generated significant buzz in Italian and international media. It got coverage in La Repubblica, GQ, and Il Corriere della Sera, as people tried to decipher its meaning. The grassroots hype prompted Bruns to produce his first run of A-Style T-shirts. When these flew off the shelves, he partnered with Simone Sidoti of Fin.esse, which enabled the transition from a passion project to a fully-fledged streetwear label.
A-Style leveraged unconventional marketing tactics, such as distributing millions of branded confetti at major fashion events like Pitti Uomo, sponsoring sports like MotoGP and Rally, and painting its logo on hairpin bends in the Tour de France. This “guerrilla marketing” was highly effective at the time and rare in the Italian fashion industry.
By the mid-2000s, A-Style had become a phenomenon, with celebrities and top athletes, including Lionel Messi, donning the brand. The company reported revenues around 13 million euros and began expanding internationally, including into France, Spain, Holland, England, and Japan.
However, A-Style’s provocative branding was not without controversy. Italian courts initially challenged the logo for being “contrary to public order and morality,” but later rulings recognized its erotic reference as indirect, which allowed Bruns to maintain the trademark.
Interesting Facts About A-Style
- The logo was created by Marco Bruns in 1999, and it features the letter “A” with two dots to its left. Though seemingly innocent, it’s actually a playful and provocative reference that sparked widespread curiosity and media attention. It was a visual pun that became central to the brand’s identity.
- The brand’s notoriety began when Bruns and friends plastered yellow and black A-Style stickers all over Milan’s traffic lights. This mysterious symbol quickly spread and caught the attention of local and international press before the product line even existed.
- Demand soared so high after the initial T-shirts were launched that A-Style expanded rapidly. It overnight sold in countries like France, Spain, Holland, England, and Japan. At its peak in the mid-2000s, A-Style had a turnover of about 13 million euros.
- High-profile athletes such as Lionel Messi became its brand ambassadors and were regularly seen wearing A-Style.
- The provocative nature of the logo led to legal battles in Italy. The Court of Milan initially refused trademark protection and branded it “contrary to public order and morality.” This decision was later overturned as courts recognized the erotic reference as indirect.
- Founder Marco Bruns implemented bold marketing ideas, such as distributing 4 million pieces of confetti printed with the A-Style logo at Pitti Uomo 2004. It sponsored sports like MotoGP and rally events, and even painted the logo on hairpin bends of the Tour de France.
- Surprisingly, the logo had already been registered in Italy back in 1991. It was years before Bruns’s guerrilla campaign went mainstream, which helped the brand overcome later challenges about its explicit content.
- Due to its not-so-hidden innuendo, A-Style often appears on the list of the most controversial, infamous, or “failed” logos in design history. Interestingly, its notoriety proved to be a driver of its success.
Finally
The history and evolution of the A-Style logo are a captivating story of creativity, resilience, and adaptability. From the provocative stickers on Milan’s traffic lights to a globally recognized fashion brand, the A-Style logo has left an indelible mark on the Italian fashion scene.