Victoria’s Secret tests a blueprint for the future of Pink with a cozy, glossy new store

FastCompany: The closest thing to the idealized mall you recall either from personal memory or from cultural lore exists on a block in the Soho neighborhood of New York City, New York Magazine aptly dubbed “Tween Row .” On a recent spring afternoon, tween girls outfitted in cable knit cardigans, pink camis, hoodies, and lowrise jeans, chatted with each other (or their willing parents) as they popped into favorite shops: Brandy Melville, Edikted, Princess Polly. As of May 14, Tween Row will get a new tenant jockeying for their attention: Victoria’s Secret’s Pink.

The store, the first designed by creative director Adam Selman, points to the retail experiences Gen Z and Gen Alpha want now —and if it works, will establish a playfully bold new identity for the brand, one little design detail at a time. Retail as springboard for brand differentiation For a long time, people have perceived the Pink brand to be a little sister to Victoria’s Secret, Selman tells me. This is partly due to what company representatives call “smerging,” when the Pink brand started to merge a bit with Victoria’s Secret’s brand codes: light pinks, a more muted sense of play.

“I’m trying to push away from that, to have it its own brand,” says Selman, adding that this concept is meant to be a Barbie dream house antidote to that younger sibling status, if Barbie were a teenager or twenty-something. [Photo: Victoria’s Secret] The first way Selman differentiates the retail space is through its displays, which convey look and feel as well as spatial scale. “If VS is the mansion, then Pink is the cottage,” Selman says, pointing out the glossy hot pink house structure that greets shoppers when they first enter the store. It brings down the scale of the store and creates a door frame to go through.

“It does go back to that idea of play,” Selman says, noting the age demo is 18-24 year olds. “Pink is loose, and it’s for fun, and it’s meant to be a little irreverent, and not too fancy, right? It’s carefree, and it’s more about girlhood.” It sets up all sorts of design callbacks through the space that create a sense of casual coziness, that you wouldn’t see in a Victoria’s Secret but would, say, in a college house or summer home. All of the drawer fixtures look like trunk handles, walls have built-in cabinets backed with ivy and decked with little dog plushes from Victoria’s Secret fashion shows of yesteryear, like keepsakes.

“If you think about a cottage, there’s usually a lot of pictures around, there’s a lot of things, and there’s sayings on the walls, and things are sort of comfy and cozy and lived in,” says Selman. “So, and that really does sort of encapsulate the Pink brand.” Rows and rows of pink pennant flags hang from the ceiling in the room immediately in front of the register. “It really feels tied to college, but you can imagine that in a space, but it feels like a modern cottage, too.

It’s not old and dusty, but it’s a fun, bold expression.” [Photo: Victoria’s Secret] It’s definitely bold, with all sorts of witty design winks and a blitz of brand codes: layers macro pink, drop shadow polka dot wall paper, polka dot cabinet and floor decals, reflective hot pink wall paper in place of muted petal pink; oversize, all caps collegiate lettering, and yes, the Pink dog as a recurring motif. It’s girls’ best friend immortalized in photos, logo marks, and bag charms. Selman also nods to this with a section just to the right of entry with a few benches.

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The article discusses a significant rebranding effort by a major retailer aimed at engaging younger consumers, which is highly relevant and somewhat innovative in the current retail landscape.