Runway fashion
This picture shows a sweatshirt made by world’s hottest designer who emblazons his creations with an eye-catching cross and arrow logo This picture is Glasgow Airport in 1964 after it was rebranded with an eye-catching cross and arrow logo Look familiar?
FROM the runways of Glasgow to the catwalks of Paris.
The similarity between the iconic old logo for Glasgow Airport and the latest design of hip Italian fashion label Off-White shows there’s nothing new under the sun.
The designers will just be hoping the crossed arrows logo takes off in the world of fashion.
HIGH-END Italian fashion label Off-White have taken the style world by storm since their launch by DJ Virgil Abloh in Milan in 2012 – and it could be thanks to a logo that originally showcased Glasgow.
One of Off-White’s images – crossed arrows – has become instantly recognisable by fashionistas across the globe.
But now a fashion industry website have revealed the brand image has its roots in Scotland.
Decades before Off-White was created, the logo was launched as the brand image for Glasgow Airport.
And it was designed by the woman responsible for producing signs for the UK’s first motorways in the late 50s and early 60s.
The logo features in Off-White’s 24 stores across the world and in outlets including Selfridges and Harrods.
But in its Scottish incarnation, it was meant to symbolise the Saltire – with arrows pointing in all directions to evoke Glasgow Airport’s connectivity to the world.
The then new airport had taken over from Renfrew Airport in the mid-60s as Glasgow’s gateway to the world and bosses wanted an instantly-recognisable symbol.
The logo was designed by Margaret Calvert – now in her 70s – after she had standardised road signs across the UK to make them easy to understand.
And the Glasgow Airport logo was in the same mould.
Abloh has just landed a top job at Louis Vuitton and his Off-White label is about as hot as it gets.
But before he took the fashion world by storm, he was a civil engineering student and may have come across the work of Calvert.
She was an assistant to top graphic designer Jock Kinnier.
The pair designed road signs, logos for Gatwick Airport and a new standardised type-face for British Rail – with one of the fonts called Off White. Stars including Kanye West, Beyonce and Justin Bieber are often seen in Off-White gear.
In 1964, Kinneir Calvert Associates were engaged by Glasgow Airport to produce “a flexible system, one that could be easily expanded and adapted to meet changing conditions and needs”. They wanted a modern symbol “reminiscent of the St Andrew’s Cross, with arrows pointing in and out.”
The similarity of the images is revealed by fashion website Grailed.
The website speculated: “Considering Abloh’s undergrad degree in civil engineering, it’s likely he encountered the world of public works projects through his syllabus subject matter alone. Considering his master’s in architecture, it becomes improbable that he did not encounter the work of Calvert.”
It added: “None of this is to discredit the work that Abloh and his team have put into building Off-White as a brand.”