Monotype’s logo for lingerie brand Chantelle Pulp takes on different weights to celebrate all shapes and sizes

Whilst concerns around representation and inclusivity in the fashion space can feel like a more current conversation, French lingerie brand Chantelle “has been considering this aspect for years”, executive creative director of Monotype, Daniel Collot tells us. A brand that started out in the 70s, the then ultra-modern underwear label has since expanded into a series of offshoots one being Chantelle Pulp: “a bold, playful and disruptive sub-brand within the Chantelle family,” Daniel says.

Rather than focusing on any fixed beauty standards or ideals, this evolution of the brand “draws inspiration from adaptability and transformation, celebrating all shapes and sizes while challenging traditional norms”, shares Daniel. This spirit of rebellion was something that stood out most to Monotype when the label reached out with the prospect of creating a new logotype for the sub-brand.

As design briefs go, Chantelle Pulp’s unwavering commitment to inclusivity and individual expression quite naturally lent itself to variable font technology. Monotypes logotype couldn’t just exist in one static state – “ideas of diversity, adaptability, and boundary-pushing were central to the creation of the variable logo from the start,” says Daniel. Collaborative workshops, sketching sessions and exchanges with Chantelle’s global chief creative officer, Renaud Cambuzat, and head of design, Natalia Kotkowska, cemented into the idea for a shapeshifter logo capable of morphing its look through different weights and shapes.

Understanding the brand’s history was essential to the design of this logotype. Like all projects at Monotype, a sensitive understanding of Chantelle’s individual voice became the defining feature of the logo: “letters aren’t just shapes,” Daniel shares “they’re cultural carriers that turn a brand’s voice into something you can see and feel.” That’s why these letterforms were drawn to stretch, expand, and softly greet one another. Their curves look like they’ve been drawn with an ink pen that’s beginning to leak, sweeping away sharp outlines or boundaries and leaving room to evolve.

The logotypes final iteration took a lot of tweaking: decisions on where letters “connected or melted into one another” or how much of the brand name became “distorted, and to what degree” spurred on hundreds of different iterations of the brands name. Despite the roundness it’s found, some early tests of the logotype explored capitals with varying degrees of curves. The team also spent a good deal of time defining a motion behaviour for the font that had the right balance of “fluidity and confidence”, Daniel says, as, whilst the logo is currently taking on a static form in many applications to build recognition, its design will morph into future motion applications, “ensuring the identity remains fresh and relevant over time”, he adds.

Although the new logotype’s fluidity reflects the brand’s commitment to inclusive sizing and styles, the marks was also crafted to offer endless possibilities for customisation in its flexibility, allowing the label to craft new campaigns for each season and “respond to new cultural shifts”, ends Daniel. This adaptability will be the ticket that ensures that Chantelle Pulp “remains dynamic, relevant, and boldly expressive in future”.