THE DRAPERS INTERVIEW
Pernilla Wohlfahrt & Rebekka Bay
Autumn 10’s minimalism trend is in perfect sync with premium retailer Cos. Is it simply down to luck? Not according to the two women overseeing its collection
Words Ana Santi Photography Richard Cannon
it to open. Once it does, the atmosphere inside is like that of a Saturday after- noon, as female shoppers rifle through the rails of the autumn 10 collection’s well-cut, understated designs. Among those satisfied shoppers, Drapers discovers, is UK Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, who picks up a handful of pieces for herself. Whether it’s the girl next door or the
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ultimate fashion editor, Cos hits the spot, as autumn 10’s biggest trend – mini- malism – is in perfect harmony with the menswear and womenswear multiple’s signature handwriting. Brand director Pernilla Wohlfahrt
says: “Sales [this season] have been fantastic. It might be because of the [minimalism] trend.” “Or maybe the trends are finally
matching the aesthetic of Cos? Maybe we were early?” offers Cos creative director Rebekka Bay. Despite dressing head to toe in Cos and being of similar ages, the two women look completely different, showing just how wide Cos’s appeal is. And while they won’t put the success into context – Cos is H&M’s premium sister chain and the Swedish fast-fashion giant doesn’t break down financials – Wohlfahrt says this season has seen “strong, comparable store figures across all markets.” As a former trend forecasting
consultant, Bay may have been “early” on minimalism but she is all too aware of the importance of being commercial. “It’s important for every brand to trans- late trends, so we filter trends through to our aesthetic,” she explains. “For example, fake fur has been popular this
24 Drapers December 3 2010
n a cold, wet Thursday morning in November, shoppers are prowling outside Cos’s London Regent Street store waiting for
CV
Pernilla Wohlfahrt 2007 Brand director, Cos 2005 Head of buying, Cos 1993 Buyer and section head, H&M 1992 Agent, Prêt-à-Porter
Rebekka Bay 2007 Creative director, Cos 2006 Design director, womenswear, Cos 2001 Freelance trend forecaster 1999 Head of trend observatory, Fitch 1997 Trend forecaster, Kjaer Global Influences
season, but we don’t use [fake fur], so we translate that through softness instead.”
Translating trends But autumn 10 has been relatively easy to translate for a retailer that would have had crisp white shirts in its offer what- ever the season. So is there a trend she fears? “Like ethnic boho?” Bay suggests, laughing. “Yes, it would worry me, but it depends how you apply it.” It doesn’t seem to worry Wohlfahrt,
who pictures “washed, cotton tunics” as a way of translating the trend. “We did the floral trend well last year, where we put all different prints together.” At least it’s not a problem they’ll have
to face next spring, with minimalism and tailoring set to continue, but with the 1970s trend arguably the most commer- cial of spring 11’s multitude of stories, would that one be more difficult to get right? “I like big turns in fashion,” says Bay. “It’s good to have a change after autumn 10 and we can turn [the 1970s trend] on its head. So, we’re going super- casual. Spring 11 is about developing a new chic. Dresses will be cut quite archi- tecturally and we’ll be following the 1970s trend in a way. We’ll be working with sportswear influences and I love how there’s a chicness to casual dressing [in that decade].” All this chicness and luxurious fabrics
won’t come cheaply, and won’t be helped by the ongoing rises in cotton prices and manufacturing. Cos’s sourcing is split 60/40 between Europe and Asia, and this ratio is unlikely to change anytime soon. “We need a lot of Euro- pean production for our footwear and tailoring and with rising freight costs and the impact on the environment, we’re encouraged to stay in Europe [as much as possible]. But we struggle to
find good factories there; you have to be very clever because we have to keep prices low,” says Wohlfahrt, alluding to Cos’s promise when it launched in 2007 that consumers could get high quality, design-led clothing at affordable prices. “It’s a daily struggle. I’ll say to Rebekka, ‘you can have that [fabric]’, but she says, ‘no, I want that [more expensive] one’.” But the duo refuse to compromise the
Cos ethos. “We go to fabric fairs and start researching [for the next season], and we find a super-soft, backed satin, but it’s outside our price range. So we look for alternatives [with the same effect]. Or we try different routes [to get to the desired fabric]. But the different route can take a long time. To get glued seams [on next season’s stiff cotton coat] took four years,” says Bay. Not that taking four years is seen as a
success. “It does prove that these elements are timeless, but in fashion it’s a race to have a first. When I first started [designing for Cos], I used to keep ideas back for the next season but then Pernilla told me to act on them [immediately].”
All eyes online One area where Wohlfahrt has had to be patient is a transactional website for Cos. But she won’t have to wait much longer, as the business is gearing up for its launch next year (as revealed by Drapers, November 19), following H&M, which launched its own UK site in September. Wohlfahrt wanted to set up a transac- tional site sooner but it was “logistically difficult,” she says. However, not having a transactional
website didn’t stop Cos from embracing the power of the internet and, in partic- ular, social networking. The retailer asked renowned fashion blogger Susie Lau of Style Bubble to dress the Regent
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