UK: Cos Spring/Summer 2009 - spirit of re-invention
Write:
Wain [2011-05-20]
Cos continues to develop a high quality design aesthetic that is fashionable but wearable and that pays homage to iconic pieces from the feminine and masculine wardrobe while questioning their function and form.
For spring/summer, the white shirt, the little black dress, the pencil skirt, the polo, the perfect blazer, pair of trousers or the coat that will transform a look; through draping, volume and architecture but that never appears over-worked are all part of the story.
The focus is on natural qualities and pure materials: paper crisp poplins, stiff Italian silks, washed cottons and linens woven with metallic thread, spongy, knitted jacquards and more fine-gauge weaves designed to be layered, one over the other.
The look is extremely matt, dry even, which focuses the attention on the innovative cut and proportion of the clothes.
The palette is muted. For women black, grey and all the shades of beige are offset with pale jade, mustard and royal blue, often with discrete accents of more violent brights. In men’s wear, colours are tonal – an aubergine trouser suit is worn with a plum shirt, a petrol blue T-shirt with a pair of navy city shorts.
The silhouette for women is groomed, even picture perfect, at first glance. Look more closely, however, and an apparently classic shift is draped and stitched above the empire line, a dress is cut out of a single, geometric length of fabric but the edges are left unfinished and frayed. For men’s wear, the appearance is similarly sharp at the edges but very slightly crumpled and aged. It is the imperfections in a garment that make it distinctive.
Perfection and imperfection, polished and raw, inspired by nature but technologically advanced, impeccably chic but with just the hint of a more anarchic side.
It is the juxtaposition of these contrasting elements that ensure an apparently minimal wardrobe but also a highly individual one, aimed at those who understand fashion but would rather not be a slave to it and have an innate sense of style that is whispered as opposed to shouted about.
Above all, this collection embodies a clean, unfussy and entirely metropolitan viewpoint and a continuing commitment to modernity that is unrivalled.