In a retail landscape where pop-ups often vanish before their scent fades, Costa Brazil has planted roots. The skin care and fragrance brand, helmed by Francisco Costa—the former creative director of Calvin Klein womenswear, a house that revolutionized minimalism in the 1990s—has opened its first permanent flagship at Hudson Yards. For Costa, this is more than a store; it is a tactile manifesto born from the jungles of his native Brazil.
The space, designed with Alexander May, is intended as a gathering place for the community that sustained the brand through its corporate turbulence. Launched in 2018, Costa Brazil was acquired by biotech firm Amyris in 2021, only to be bought back by Costa for $4.6 million after Amyris exited beauty in 2023. By early 2024, he had resurrected the line, a resurrection that echoes the resilience of lingerie houses like La Perla, which has navigated multiple ownership changes while preserving its Italian craftsmanship.
The flagship offers the full product suite, from the Aroma Eau de Parfum to the Kaya Jungle Firming Body Oil, alongside monthly artist conversations. “This is not a PowerPoint brand,” Costa told WWD. “There is an appetite for experiential retail.” Indeed, in an era when luxury lingerie brands like Agent Provocateur have transformed boudoir shopping into performance art, Costa Brazil’s approach feels kin—sensorial, intimate, and grounded in a story of survival.
Currently available at Bluemercury, Nordstrom, and soon Bloomingdale’s, the brand sees 13 percent of online sales from Brazil. New scents are planned for 2026. As Costa builds a lifestyle empire, one wonders: will his next collection drape the body as knowingly as his former Calvin Klein slips once did?
Originally reported by WWD