The History of and Story Behind the Victoria’s Secret Logo
Victoria’s Secret is one of the world’s leading lingerie brands. Since the company was founded in 1977, the company has expanded and changed significantly. Therefore, it makes that the company image and branding has also changed. An important element of any company’s branding is their logo, and Victoria’s Secret is no different. The logo has undergone many updates during the lingerie retailer’s history to reflect the changes within the company. Here is an overview of the company and the history of and the story behind the Victoria’s Secret logo.
An Overview of Victoria’s Secret
Roy and Gaye Raymond founded Victoria’s Secret in 1977. The inspiration behind the brand was Raymond’s embarrassment at buying lingerie for his wife from the shopping mall. Their first lingerie store was in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. They differed from their competitors, as undergarments at that time were predominantly functional items. Victoria’s Secret offered pretty garments in a setting where men could feel comfortable buying gifts for their wives. The couple went on to open a further four stores as the company had grossed $500,000 in its first year of trading. There was also a catalog from which customers could buy lingerie from the privacy of their own homes via mail-order.
By 1982, Victoria’s Secret was grossing $6 million annually, and the company was sold for $1 million to Les Wexner, the creator of Limited Stores Inc. A year later, Wexner revamped the sales model to focus on female customers rather than on husband’s buying gifts for their wives. The transformation brought the company into the mainstream market. Within four years of Wexner buying Victoria’s Secret, there were more than 100 stores across the United States. In the late 1980s, it became one of the world’s fastest-growing mail-order businesses, and sales quadrupled. The 1990s was an important time for the company. They expanded from lingerie to their own line of fragrances and launched products such as the Miracle Bra. In 1995, they hosted their first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. By the late 1990s, they had also expanded into the cosmetics market. Now, the company has more than 1,000 stores. Although these are predominantly in the United States and Canada, they have locations elsewhere in the world. As of 2019, the company is no longer hosting a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
The First Logo Used by Victoria’s Secret
According to Logos World, the first example of a Victoria’s Secret logo was introduced in 1977 when the company was founded, and it appeared on the company’s debut catalog. The original logo had a vintage script.
Changes to the Logo in the 1980s
Changes were not made to the logo until the mid-1980s. The aim was to simplify the logo and to make the typeface clearer. Designers at Victoria’s Secret experimented with different typefaces throughout the 1980s, some of which were serif and others that were non-serif. They eventually settled on a very similar look to the logo used since the 1990s, says 1000 Logos.
The Current Victoria’s Secret Logo
Victoria’s Secret currently uses two logos. One is a text-only logo, and the other features both text and a symbol. The text logo simply spells out the words’ Victoria’s Secret’ in uppercase lettering. Although all the letters are in uppercase, the initials are slightly larger than the other letters in the word. Although the text logo’s basic concept has remained the same since the 1990s, the typeface used has changed several times over the years. During the 2000s, Victoria’s Secret used a customized version of the Trajan font that was created by Carol Twombly. They later switched to a modified Bell typeface from Monotype, which is the typeface currently in use in their logo. The text and symbol logo features the same text and font as the main logo, with the only difference being the symbol’s addition. Its symbol is a simple design using ‘V’ and ‘S’ in uppercase to represent the brand name’s initials. The letters are slightly staggered and interlinked. They are displayed in black, usually against a white background. In some instances, the lettering and symbol are white against a black background. The Victoria’s Secret symbol is also used as a monogram.
The Logo Color Choices
Throughout the history of Victoria’s Secret, they have used just three colors in their logos. Most of the logos are simply black writing on a white background. Using only black and white gives a sense of simplicity while also creating a bold image. However, the third color they have used is pink, which is a color that most people associate with this brand. Not only does pink add a splash of color to the logo to create a striking image, but it is also a color associated with femininity. Usually, bright pink is introduced as a background to the logo, although there is one example of the company using bright pink and candy pink stripes in their imagery.
Who Designed the Victoria’s Secret Logo?
Various people have had input into the design of the Victoria’s Secret logo over the years. The company predominantly used their own staff for the designs, although some other agencies had involvement in the designs at different stages. At one point, Mucca’s Studio worked on the design. The studio helped to create the VS symbol that the company uses and provided a range of symbols and images for the company to use. Another design agency involved in the Victoria’s Secret logo was the New York-based company Studio 191. Their involvement focused on designing logos and imagery for the Victoria’s Secret sub-brands, such as Supermodel Essentials, Hosiery, The Lacie, and VSX.
