Victoria's Secret launches store makeover, ditching racy images of Angels and replacing bubblegum pink interiors with a toned-down look

• Victoria's Secret is giving its stores a makeover as part of its turnaround effort.
• This includes removing racy marketing images of Angels and brightening the lights.
• Creative director Raúl Martinez told the New York Post that half of its stores have been "refreshed" so far.

Victoria's Secret is giving its stores a makeover for the first time in more than 20 years.

The lingerie giant has removed racy images of its Angels from around half of its stores so far, Victoria's Secret creative director Raúl Martinez told The New York Post. The company had previously told Insider that it plans to refresh its entire fleet of 1,400 stores around the world.

A spokesperson for Victoria's Secret confirmed that around half its stores have been refreshed and that this includes removing old photography or turning up the lights in stores.

Victoria's Secret's stores have been an iconic part of the brand for decades. When he launched the brand, Victoria's Secret founder Roy Raymond imagined a Victorian boudoir with dark furniture and silk drapery.

This vision was transformed into Victoria's Secret's signature bubblegum-pink interiors with dimmed lights and images of scantily dressed models plastered on the walls. The images have been described as borderline pornographic. Now, the company is removing them to create a place that is "more inviting for women to enter," Martinez said.

Read more: POWER PLAYERS: Meet the 8 Victoria's Secret executives helping the company shake off years of scandal and slumping sales

At one updated store near its Ohio headquarters, the company has brightened the lighting, painted the walls a soft pink, and replaced boudoir decor like pink velvet furniture with black and white tables and dressers, according to the Post.

A spokesperson for the company previously told Insider that the store refresh is being headed up by Becky Behringer - executive vice president of North American store sales and operations - and Greg Unis, CEO of Victoria's Secret Beauty.

It's a major part of the company's turnaround effort and its goal to transform the brand into the world's leading advocate for women.

As part of this, Victoria's Secret said it would be ending its Angels brand to work with a new group of spokeswomen - including Indian actor and entrepreneur Priyanka Chopra Jonas and the pro soccer player and gender-equality activist Megan Rapinoe - as part of a campaign called the VS Collective.