Galeries Lafayette is the name of the world’s most famous shopping center, which was established in Paris in 1912. Located on the iconic Haussmann Boulevard, the luxury department store has several buildings — fashion, cosmetics, and home, where everything from textiles and aromas to furniture can be found.
The new era of the Galeries Lafayette history started in 2000, with the complete rebranding of the department store and expansion of the items in its portfolio. The beginning of the new century was rich in young designers with a special spirit and unique character, and the Lafayette shopping center decided to fall in line with the trends.
The logo, introduced by Galeries Lafayette in 2000 was composed of a red and black inscription placed on a white background and executed in two different styles. The lowercase cursive “Lafayette” was placed under the narrowed red “Galeries” in a straight and strict sans-serif. The two black letters “T” were drawn in the way, resembling the Eiffel Tower, and the first part of the word was underlined by a thin and smooth black touch.
The redesign of 2015 simplified the color palette of the Galeries Lafayette visual identity to just black on white, and redrawn the wordmark in one style, though kept the composition two-leveled. Now the inscription is executed in a modern handwritten cursive with the first letters of each word capitalized. The “Galeries” placed above the “Lafayette” is located a bit more on the right, and this adds more uniqueness and playfulness to the composition.