How Scandi high-street hero Cos has changed the way we dress

At Cos HQ, just a stone’s throw from the haute high-street brand’s Regent Street flagship, everyone, it seems, is very much on message. A stream of willowy girls stalk the corridors in coolly subdued looks of inky blues, off-whites and charcoal. The brand’s creative director, Karin Gustafsson, is no different: dressed in a navy knitted top and matching languid, wide-legged navy trousers, the softly spoken, platinum-blonde Swede is a pretty perfect poster girl for Cos’s signature Scandi cool.

At 43, Gustafsson presides over one of the British high street’s most significant success stories. Cos opened its first store on Regent Street exactly 10 years ago and since then it has expanded at a dizzying pace; there are now 201 stores in 33 countries around the world as well as a rapidly growing online store. Especially impressive, given the brand has never advertised.

Gustafsson has been here from the start, plucked straight from her MA at the Royal College of Art to join the launch team as assistant designer. ‘They couldn’t really tell me much,’ she recalls of that initial meeting. ‘I was quite unsure about it. I was a bit “that’s high street — I’m not going to be able to be creative there”.’

How wrong she was. As Gustafsson climbed the ranks (she was made creative director last year) Cos has trail-blazed a path for interesting, affordable and beautifully made high-street fashion that focuses on architectural or draped silhouettes, a modish mid-century palette (sludgy mustards, perky greens, soft pinks and a lot of neutrals) and a very pointed lack of catwalk-led seasonal trends. Cos may have been the brainchild of Swedish behemoth H&M, but it’s nothing like the celebrity-fuelled, fast-fashion that dominates much of the high street.

From the get-go, Cos was a unique endeavour. ‘We wanted to create clothes that are comfortable, effortless, that last and that you can adapt in many different ways so you can wear it for work, and put a heel on and a clutch and go out,’ says Gustafsson. ‘I think that idea suits the modern woman.

‘We have always been into every little detail,’ she adds. They were, and still are, fanatical about fit (many pieces go through five fittings before reaching the shop floor), materials (‘We are all fabric nerds!’) and almost imperceptible details such as how a pocket feels or adding a split into a waistband to make alterations easy. The kind of dressmakery touches that you don’t find in regular high-street stores. It’s that sense of ease and going the extra mile — beautiful clothes that nod to fashion but also create a brilliant wardrobe of basics — that has won Cos a diverse fan base from businesswomen such as Samantha Cameron (she wore many Cos pieces while at No 10) to stars including Emma Stone.

Yet while elsewhere on the high street prices have dramatically shot up over the past few years (it’s not uncommon now to find coats priced well over £1,000 and footwear skywards of £500), Cos resolutely stands by its original ethos. ‘We always wanted to be democratic. We really believe that it should be possible to create good quality for an affordable price; doing something for a higher price point is not something we have considered.’ And anyway, following other high-street stores is not something that is ever on the Cos agenda. ‘I think there are some great brands and obviously we do look at what everyone does but we tend to look towards ourselves — what did we do this season? What can we do better? And always looking back to our DNA. We consider ourselves as our biggest competitor.’

In many ways Cos was ahead of its time. The idea of clothes that are entirely democratic, that are ageless and/or gender fluid, is a theme that has gripped high fashion in the past year or two. It’s something Cos has nurtured stealthily. Women have always shopped across both genders but men are also buying in to womenswear, especially, says Gustafsson, the coats, knitwear, sweatshirts and chinos.

A case in point is a special 10th-anniversary capsule collection. The 10 pieces, almost genderless in their design and colourways, include a stunning kimono-sleeved jacket and crisp, boxy white cotton shirts and were created with sustainability in mind. Similarly, the Cos collection uses geometric cutting to leave hardly any leftover fabric. ‘It’s something we have always done in different ways,’ she says of the cutting-edge pieces, ‘but these are the challenges that make the collection move on.’

British Vogue fashion director, Lucinda Chambers, is a great fan of the brand. ‘Cos has always had a very different image from the rest of the typical high-street brands,’ she says. ‘I think they very deliberately set themselves apart. The cuts are often quietly bold and interesting, the colours unusual and more challenging so they attract quite a confident woman, more intellectual and not enthralled by fashion. I think there are many people out there, men and women, who love the pared-down simplicity of Cos so they can put their own stamp of individuality on the clothes.’ Chambers snaps up the brand’s simple basics, knits and ‘risky’ pieces in satin, neoprene and nylon. ‘I also love their underwear — it’s plain and elegant.’

By launching in London the company tapped in to the rich arts and design scene and could draw from the incredible talent emerging from local design schools, too. ‘It’s a great city to live in when you are creative,’ adds Gustafsson. ‘There’s an amazing dynamic of different personalities and backgrounds.’

Cos has worked with Frieze (supporting young artists showcased in Frame) and the Serpentine’s wildly popular Park Nights series that uses the pavilion over the summer months for a series of talks and events.

In many ways it’s clear that despite its Swedish heritage, Cos could only have been conceived in London. ‘I am really happy it was,’ Gustafsson says. ‘This is an amazing creative city with the art scene and music scene and we are a very international team.’ She won’t be drawn on Brexit but clearly it must be a concern to a fashion brand where so many of the creative team come from outside the UK, with most new designers plucked from very international alumni of London’s world-class fashion schools.

It’s a stressful time to head up a high-street store but as a working mother (she lives with her seven-year-old son in Walthamstow) there’s not too much opportunity for really switching off. ‘In a job like mine you are working all the time, but I am lucky that I work for a company who are very supportive of family life. I drop my son at school and I try to be home to eat dinner with him. On weekends we do play dates and the park — all the usual things.’ Gustafsson follows a very Scandinavian ethos. ‘I really believe in a work-life balance, so I run and swim and that’s very important to me. I really need that if I am going to do my job well.’ And we can all relate to that.

Cos Capsule Collection launches on 24 March