Heritage
A house, in its own words
Victoria's Secret was founded on June 12, 1977, by Roy Raymond in San Francisco. Raymond conceived the idea after feeling uncomfortable shopping for lingerie in department stores, and he opened the first location at 2245 Union Street with a Victorian-inspired concept. The business struggled financially, and in 1982 Raymond sold it to Leslie Wexner, founder of L Brands (now Bath & Body Works' parent), for roughly $1 million. Wexner shifted the brand toward a more aspirational, image-driven model that defined its later years. The first fragrance, simply called Victoria, arrived in 1988 and carried a name and packaging language meant to evoke English refinement. Over the following decades the brand expanded into a fragrance catalog of more than two dozen signatures, including the 2010 launch of Bombshell, which the company has called its top-selling scent. The VS Niche line, introduced in 2022, marked a clear step into designer territory, pairing the brand with external perfumers. A nine-piece home fragrance collection followed, signaling continued investment in scent beyond personal wear. VS approaches fragrance as an extension of its identity as a lifestyle and beauty brand rather than as a standalone olfactory craft. The company has centered its scent strategy on accessible, broadly appealing compositions that align with the marketing of its fashion collections, producing flankers and limited editions that track seasonal campaigns. More recently, the brand has signaled a move toward higher-ground creative territory through the VS Niche collection, an effort to engage fragrance enthusiasts who typically shop outside the Victoria's Secret ecosystem. The brand's home fragrance launch reflects a philosophy of embedding scent into daily rituals, from body care to living spaces, treating fragrance as a continuous, multi-touchpoint experience rather than a single product category.