Store Observation, COS

Located on Brushfield St, right opposite Old Spitalfields Market, is COS. A clothing store under H&M Group, that opened its first store in 2007, for “women and men that want a modern, functional and considered design”. They made sure to open stores in good locations, and make them into a modern, welcoming space (COS, 2018).

What we can see in the pictures below is that the brand keeps a very clean and modern look to the store. There is a limited amount of each of the clothing pieces, which gives a clean look, and the customers a more exclusive feel.

Window display (N.n, 2017)

In-Store display (N.n, 2017)

The brand does not do many promotions, however when signing up to their newsletter you get 10% off online. “Dressed-down elegance for festive evenings” is written on their window, letting customers know they can come in and get a more modern look for Christmas, which is what their brand is known for.This again ties with the typical trend the brand follows. Design Matters is all about sustainability and contemporary utility, with softened shapes and greys, blues and yellows (Sourcing Journal, 2016).

White T-shirt, £12 (COS, 2018)

Belted wool coat, £225 (COS, 2018)

Prices vary from £12-£225, which makes their typical customer females between 25-35, with a well-paid job. They dress very simple, yet elegant and rather spice up their outfits with accessories.

It was extremely interesting going into a store, that I personally do not shop in. From going out and doing this store observation as a part of my module learning, it gives me experience that I believe can be useful in the future. I learnt a lot from working in teams, this again can help me with my future career as I might be working in bigger teams where good teamwork and communication is vital.

 

References

COS (2018) About: COS [Online] Available from: <https://www.cosstores.com/gb/About> [Accessed 02 January 2018]

Sourcing Journal (2016) WGSN unveils Autumn Winter 18 Trends [Online] Available from: <https://sourcingjournalonline.com/wgsn-unveils-autumn-winter-18-trends-td/> [Accessed 02. January 2018]

N.n (2017) Window Display of COS Brushfield St [Personal Photograph] Retrieved from: COS Store, Brushfield St, London, 23. November 2017.

N.n (2017) In-store display of COS Brushfield St [Personal Photograph] Retrieved from: COS Store, Brushfield St, London, 23. November 2017.

COS (2018) V-neck Cotton T-Shirt [Image] Retrieved from: <https://www.cosstores.com/gb/Women/T-shirts/V-neck_cotton_T-shirt/73957713-63007552.1#c-85356> [Accessed 02. January 2018]

COS (2018) Belted Wool Coat [Image] Retrieved from: <https://www.cosstores.com/gb/Women/Coats_Jackets/Coats/Belted_wool_coat/87045900-77826062.1#c-85342> [Accessed 02. January 2018]

Visual Theming Workshop

When being presented with a list of descriptive words and being asked to create a mood board expressing one of them with items that are only within the classroom, it is time to get creative. My group chose the word romantic with a purpose especially since it is such a diverse word that everyone is familiar with.

Starting with a silky pink bomber jacket, a magazine ad and a floral scarf as key theme items, we then put smaller objects that we thought represented the word around it. We made sure that although the word has different meaning, the mood board represented all these different feelings into one. I believe the mood board tells a love story about a young, independent girl in her pink bomber jacket. She’s got rosy cheeks and a bright red lip, with a special rustic clock pendant around her neck. She smells of freesia, her favourite flower and that is what makes her different.

Romantic Mood Board I (Amundsen, 2018)

Romantic Mood Board II (Amundsen, 2017)

It was very interesting to create a mood board, however I do believe that I have potential to get better, as this was my first time. My thoughts on my own work is that it looks disorganized which might make it difficult to understand the story-line.

However, I am very happy with what my group was able to produce in such a short amount of time with creativity as our biggest resource. Next time, I would like to stick to fewer patterns rather than all the ones we went for, as it looks chaotic.

 

References

Amundsen, I (2017) Romantic Mood Board [Personal Photograph] Retrieved 04. January 2018, London.

Amundsen, I (2017) Romantic Mood Board II [Personal Photograph] Retrieved 04. January 2018, London.

Street Style Photography – Trend Spotting

When you travel to Dalston, a modern and multi-cultural area, located in the eye of Hackney, you will be surrounded by people of different cultures and different trends. That is what makes this area perfect for trend spotting. “Dalston is packed with fun nights out, affordable meals and unique bargain buys” (TimeOut London, 2017).

The looks we spotted were all different, however they still had ties to each other. Our first participant was rocking a pair of printed loose-fitted wide-leg trousers (fig 1). Whereas our second participant was spotted wearing a big oversized puffer jacket (fig 2). As we can see a lot of people follow in the trend that is oversized clothing. It was especially shown during February’s NYFW Street Style documented on Vogue UK (fig 3) as seen below.

Loose-fitted printed trousers (Maticiuc, 2017)

Oversized puffer jacket (Maticiuc, 2017)

Puffer Jacket (Vogue UK, 2017)

 

Our next participants, on the other hand, had a completely different style to the others. As seen, she was wearing a black wool coat (fig 4), that never goes out of style as seen in Harper’s Bazaar’s 15 best coats of 2017 (fig 5, 6), with a pair of black heels and a pink shoulder bag.

Black wool coat (Maticiuc, 2017)

Plum loose-fitted coat by H&M (Harper’s Bazaar 2017)

Wool coat by Zara (Harper’s Bazaar 2017)

 

Contrary to that, our last participants did not follow a particular style. One, paired a plaid shirt with a denim dungaree dress and a pink rain coat (fig 7), whilst the other paired a grey skirt with trainers and a striped oversized jumper and a camo bag (fig 8).

Striped jumper with grey skirt (Maticiuc, 2017)

Dungaree dress with pink raincoat (Maticiuc, 2017)

 

What I have learnt from this is that when going trend spotting there is so much to look for. It can be brand new innovating trends, old trends like the 80s pouf skirt that could potentially come back or the timeless fashion trends that never go out of style, as for example animal prints. Looking at how our participants tie together; their styles consist of a mix of new and old trends.

 

References

Movebubble (N.d) Dalston London guide [Online] Available from: <https://www.movebubble.com/2014/04/the-official-guide-to-dalston/> [Accessed 20. November 2017]

TimeOut London (2017) Dalston area guide [Online] Available from: <https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/dalston-area-guide> [Accessed 20. November 2017]

Figure 1 – Maticiuc, N (2017) Wide-leg trousers [Personal photograph] Retrieved 26. October 2017, Dalston, London.

Figure 2 – Maticiuc, N (2017) Oversized puffer jacket [Personal photograph] Retrieved 26. October 2017, Dalston, London.

Figure 3 – Vogue UK (2017) NYFW Street Style Trends. [Photograph] Retrieved from: <http://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/nyfw-street-style-trends> (Accessed 14 December 2017)

Figure 4 – Maticiuc, N (2017) Black loose-fitted coat [Personal photograph] Retrieved 26. October 2017, Dalston, London.

Figure 5 – Harper’s Bazaar (2017) Winter coats: Our 20 favourites to invest in now. [Photograph] Retrieved from: <http://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/what-to-wear/news/g32335/best-fall-winter-coats/?slide=7> (Accessed 14 December 2017)

Figure 6 – Harper’s Bazaar (2017) Winter coats: Our 20 favourites to invest in now. [Photograph] Retrieved from: <http://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/what-to-wear/news/g32335/best-fall-winter-coats/?slide=13> (Accessed 14 December 2017)

Figure 7 – Maticiuc, N (2017) Dungaree dress with pink rain coat [Personal photograph] Retrieved 26. October 2017, Dalston, London.

Figure 8 – Maticiuc, N (2017) Striped jumper paired with skirt and accessories [Personal photograph] Retrieved 26. October 2017, Dalston, London.