(Situated on one of the busiest streets in the West End( Regents Street)The Classic shop stands alone, in its own right to be known in (my opinion) one of the most Fashion forward stores on the Retail market .... yes it is none other than the brilliant Cos.)
Cos
Thank God the idea of overseas shipping, all the way from a country called Sweden lies Cos for Men and Women who desire high Fashion amazing Quality clothes at very affordable prices.Cos started in London 2007 and had excelled thanks to the management under one the biggest High street stores at H&M.As i made my way down to the store I noticed how nicely it stood out from all of the high street stores it was actually quite refreshing to see a Female and Male standing side by side looking quite like the stylish ideal couple I've always dreamed of having myself oneday.The display was ever so clean and minimal as you can see black was one of the main colour themes here.
The A/W trend is very basic with extra details that make the garment that create a wonderful finish to the typical Jacket or coat.The amount of interesting looking people that walked into the shop immediately drew me to indulge the wonderful shop!
As i entered i was greeted with a friendly "Good Afternoon" and I felt very welcomed instantly,I observed customers and consumers and noted that their were people of all ages,young trendy "canvas Art bag" students browsing at the delicate white jersey T-shirts to match their dark blue skinny jeans and beaten up vans. There was a lot of foreign customers but they seemed to be grabbing all the sale items off shelves. Walking around cos I saw how well thought out the layout of the store was, their cloths matched the appearance clear and minimal. The colours were all nutral and green, there were sections of black white and grey,greens,creams and reds and also the occasional stripes appeared now and then.
One of my favourites was the magazine section (as seen above) most of the males were lonugeing there reading Fashion magazines such as Love and Vogue,I thought this added a very homely touch and created a relaxed enviroment for customers.
After having a good browse around I asked to take a couple of pictures of some clothes but unfortunetley I was turned down by "polices" but i did manage to get a few pictures on some of the biggest trends that should be must haves this A/W 2010.
http://www.cosstores.com/
H&M
The Swedish company that heads cos its known for its Fast Fashion clothing and caters to Womenswear Menswear and also Children's wear not to mention the biggest consumers on the high street ( teenagers) with around 2,000 stores in 37 countries H&M is an ever growing company soaring in demand and good quality for high street shoppers.
As well as Cos H&m also caters to a wide range of People ageing from the very young to the very old. Walking in the store was like walking into the atlantic ocean my eyes didn't know where to start looking. Unfortunetly I wasn't greeted with a warm welcome as it was in Cos but on this occasion I believe that was completely understandable and on a a personal note Id prefer not be disturbed while shopping but thats just me!
H&m Is split into four segments:
Womenswear
Menswear
Teens
Childrenswear
And is also split into four Trends in womenswear being:
Trend
Basic
L.o.g.o
Divided
So I headed straight for the Trend section as is caught my attention almost imdediatley. I instantly loved it as their aim was to bring ideas straight off the catwalk to the highstreet with great quality and price ranges. They had all of my favourite tones like Camel creams and concrete grey tweet throw over coats... knit wear was also a big one, some very heavily knitted jumper were on display to keep you very warm and cosy this Winter which was a "must buy" for me as I know what this British weather's like.
(pictured above) Is the Divided trend catered for the younger generation like myself.To be honest i was not impressed the quality for one doesn't seem like it's come from the same suppliers as the concession brand they have in Trend, a lot of it was either to short and trashy or just way to colourful and 80s techno looking and it seemed to me that this was just another stereotype of what the teen consumer is after. Unfortuntely due to "polices" i was able to get the goods with pictures etc but luckly we have the internet yaay so heres the website if you want to check that out www.hm.com
Although I wasn't too keen on the clothes inside I seemed to be very impressed with the layout of the store (pictured above)everything was layout very beautifully and nothing was scattered considering all of the busy customers.
Not being to pleased with H&M this year was one thing but I was very happy with the amount of effort they make to please their customers, in terms of keeping up with Trends i can see just how eager they are to keep their consumers buying, with High End collaboration with Lanvin,Karl Lagerfield and many more H&m have seemed to create a name for themselves, they have allowed people to get a buzz in buying High End clothing at affordable prices.
Overall I have to say I give H&M respect where credit is due but they are nothing compared to Cos's quality in terms of clothing and the market the aim for I love H&M for what they do but I wasn't to pleased with the Trends this year as it seemed like they didn't make enough effort as seen in their window display.
(Maybe you'll have some luck on your side next year eh !)
Written By Demae Chioma Wodu