Victoria’s Secret is without exaggeration the most popular and recognizable lingerie company in the world. And from the famous shows went down in the history of modern fashion. The first Victoria’s Secret fashion show took place in 1995, and the famous Victoria’s Secret Angels hit the catwalk in 1998. Since then, girls all over the world have dreamed of owning a set from this brand. The minimalistic Victoria’s Secret logo has undergone a lot of transformations. The earlier versions have a retro feel, while today the wordmark has a more utilitarian look.
The history of the most popular today brand Victoria’s Secret began with the fact that the American Roy Raymond decided to present his wife with a gorgeous set of lingerie. However, bypassing all the stores offering underwear, the man remained empty-handed, he did not like anything. It was then that Raymond came up with the idea of opening his store. And in 1977 the first Victoria’s Secret store was opened.
After five years, the company launched catalog sales and opened several more stores in San Francisco, which significantly increased sales and Victoria’s Secret began to earn almost 4 million dollars a year. At the same time, the young company was noticed by a major entrepreneur Leslie Wexner, the founder of a large retail chain. In the same year, a deal was made to sell the brand. From this moment began the triumph of Victoria’s Secret around the world.
In 2001, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show began airing on television, with CBS and ABC networks competing for broadcast rights. Until 2018, fashion shows were held annually, being one of the most important events in the fashion world. However, the television ratings began to decline, and criticism, of the contrary, grew. So the broadcasting of the shows on TV had to be canceled.
Today, the popularity of Victoria’s Secret is fading a little, because the brand has more and more competitors on the world stage. However, the company continues to please its fans not only with lingerie but also with collections of women’s clothing, as well as cosmetics and perfumes.
In terms of visual identity Victoria’s Secret is pretty constant and strict. Throughout its history, the brand has used the efforts of its in-house team and help from brand agencies. Among the firms that have worked on the brand was Mucca’s studio, which created an internal brand book, and provided VS with an updated logo, a new monogram, as well as a set of patterns and icons.
The New York-based Studio 191 participated in updating and developing the Victoria’s Secret logo and created verbal and visual identity for the company’s sub-brands, including The Lacie, Hosiery, Supermodel Essentials, VSX, and more.
One of the earliest wordmarks, which was featured in the 1977 catalog, sports a vintage script with many fine details. In the mid-1980s, however, simpler and clearer typefaces, both serif and sans-serif ones, started to be used. The company experimented with the font weight and proportions before setting on what looks very close to the current version in the 1990s. It was a lightweight serif lettering in pink, written against a plain white background. The two parts of the company’s name were placed one under another and had no graphical additions.
The redesign of 2009 has kept the original style of the Victoria’s Secret logo, yet played with the geometry of the lettering. The name of the brand is now written in one line, with black uppercase characters on a simple white background. Apart from the new color, another change was made to the sizing: the initial characters of both words are slightly larger, which sets the right accents in the composition and makes the logo different from the ones of its competitors.
Apart from the iconic logotype, Victoria’s Secret brand also has an emblem, which is sometimes used with the lettering, and sometimes — on its own. It is a stylized VS monogram with the two intertwined letters written in a classy serif typeface. The tail of the “S” is elongated a playfully hugs the distinctive and sharp bar of the “V”. In the primary version the emblem is drawn in flat black lines, yet sometimes the surfaces of the letters gain glossy gradients.
In the 2000s, the company used a customized version of the Trajan font from Adobe (created by Carol Twombly in 1989). Later, the brand switched to the Bell typeface from Monotype, which was also modified.
As for the color palette of the Victoria’s Secret visual identity, the first association here is, of course, pink. And yes, this color is formed and used by the brand as a symbol of femininity and tenderness. However, it’s not the only shade associated with the famous lingerie manufacturer. Black is also used extensively, to make the main color look more refined. White is often used either for the background or as an accent color.