Anecdote about COS (relates to Gaylene's thread) - YouLookFab Forum

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Anecdote about COS (relates to Gaylene's thread)

crazyone

Veteran

I forgot to share this in Gaylene's thread so I thought I'd share it here. The roommate of a close friend of mine is a sales associate at COS, which is primarily how I'd heard of the store. I went there a few months ago and a sales associate was patiently explaining the concept of COS to an older couple (about 70), and the man especially seemed taken by the quality and concept of the clothes. I asked my friend about it and she said that most of the customers who actually buy things at COS are older (50+)...I'm sure this ties into who-has-disposable income issues in a student-heavy town, but it also ties in with my feeling that avant-garde, unconventionally flattering clothes tend to be the domain of the older rather than the younger. How many young people do you see wearing Eileen Fisher style-drapey clothing, for example? I feel like the only younger women I see wearing avant-garde clothing are urban women associated with the fashion industry (including this girl who works at COS...her birthday party came with instructions to wear black trash bags...aka the style of COS clothing )

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14 replies

Latest reply was from Jaime

El Cee

Veteran

That does not surprise me that COS customers are older and well-heeled. I live in a New England college town. There are a number of ladies in the community that I would categorize as having either an avant-garde or artsy style. Many are members of a local artists guild that I belong to. Most are over the age of 50. A number of them dress in lagenlook style (garments from places like Blue Fish Clothing) and accessorize with bold jewelry. Others fall more into the Eileen Fisher-drapey style category. I have rarely seen younger women sporting these oversized looks, even those who are more fashion forward.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

YES to everything you and El Cee said, Crazyone. This makes sense to me too. The younger generation - *very generally* - are more into showcasing their figures a lot or a little more.

Each time I walk into a COS, I mostly see older women in the store - around my age (45) and older. I walk into Zara and I see women of ALL ages, and this is true for all Zaras around the world. I walk into an H&M, and I usually see folk younger than me. Interesting.

crazyone

Veteran

El Cee and Angie, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who sees things this way! That's why I found it surprising to see so many people say that the oversized look could only be pulled off by the young and shapely.

That said, I think some of the reason why H&M skews young is less about the bodycon fit but the lower price and lower quality...lower prices attract younger consumers looking for fast fashion, whereas older customers tend to know and want better quality? That said, there are plenty of younger women in stores just as expensive as COS around here, which is why I found my friend's roommate's experience interesting, and not just about pricing--I think it's about the style.

Gaylene

Veteran

OK, now I'm more fascinated than ever by the COS concept.

I'm wondering if it isn't about a shift in how many women feel about their appearance once they pass menopause. Confronted with the inevitable changes we see in our appearance and our bodies, we stand at a cross roads.

The paved path is full of help and promises to let me hang on to my "youthfulness" by using the miracles of modern science and careful dressing to try to emulate the glorious "aging well" beauties celebrated in the press and society. Aspirational, but often dulled by the reality of illness, budgets, and circumstances, along with a niggling question of how much time and energy do I want to devote to the upkeep and maintenance of my surface.

The rockier path requires questioning how important is it to disguise my altered appearance and thickening shape from younger, eyes. That's why the drapey shapes of EF and figure-obscuring boxiness of COS can seem so liberating. Those clothes make it obvious I'm not playing the game of self-enhancement in the same way as I did when I was younger. Rebellion, maybe, but also salvation? No asking "does my butt look good in these pants?" any more.

shiny

Veteran

Gaylene, I've heard that when we are in the fertile part of our cycle, we tend to dress differently. Some of this is conscious, as we may actually look more attractive than usual -- our lip color deepens, our face flushes, we drop the water weight, etc. But a lot of it may be subconscious as well. We may feel sexier so we dress to accentuate our attributes, choosing more body con outfits as well as brighter clothing. This can be so subtle -- buttoning our blouse just a little lower than normal -- we don't even notice we are doing it. We may not even want to have children, yet our biology still prompts us to make these little tweaks, to choose the red tee instead of the gray one.

When I heard this, which was over a decade ago, I started noticing that there was indeed a pattern to my own dressing. I could wear the exact same outfit twice in a month, and one time I'd feel fabulous and confident, the other time I'd feel immodest. The difference was where I was in my cycle. Then I hit perimenopause and eventually menopause this past year. I have noticed there's not such a pattern anymore.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

That's an interesting description of COS, Raji. I've been wanting to like something from them enough to buy for about a year now, but I always concluded that they were a brand for the tall and architectural people. It hadn't occurred to me that they were aiming for the E Fisher type customers.

El Cee, I had never heard of lagenlook, but between looking it up and being familiar with this sort of New England town, I now feel that I understand.

amiable

Veteran

Ooh, fascinating Shiny, now I have to pay attention to that!

And, this makes me look forward to the confidence to wear these more dramatic and drapey looks that might come with aging I love the looks, but feel like they are too dramatic for me. I like low-drama in life, and am learning that I like that in dress too.

LaPed

Veteran

Yeah, I'm in a college town in the northeast, too, where that Blue Fish/Gudrun Sjoden/lagenlook style has always been something of a status indicator for artsy, well-heeled ladies in middle age and beyond. My grandmother was one of them, and I bet she would love stuff like COS and Black Crane if she were still around. I definitely don't have a visceral negative reaction to the COS look, perhaps partly because it reminds me of so many of the splendid matriarchs I've known who've rocked that look.

Peri

Veteran

As someone who teaches teenagers, particularly teenage girls, I can say that there are other factors too. Teenagers will wear whatever is in style regardless of how it looks on them. When cropped tops and low rise jeans were in, girls wore them whether they had the figure for it or not. To be out of style is very horrible in their worlds. Trends trump everything.

As we age we have the confidence to start finding our own styles. We can take the trends we like and forget the ones we don't. Yes, we are more interested in comfort, because we can be. We don't have to wear uncomfortable clothes if we don't like them. Where a teenage girl will fit herself into whatever her peers are wearing, we fit ourselves into whatever we like. So instead of the idea that as we age we dress in less fitted clothing because we no longer need or want to be "attractive" to others, or that we have more we wish to disguise, let's consider that we dress the way we want because we are more comfortable with ourselves and feel more confidence and freedom to wear whatever we want.

JAileen

Veteran

I love Eileen Fisher, but didn't care for COS. The pants looked way too big, and the colors and color combos weren't fab. I like Eileen Fisher tops with regular pants or jeans. I'd buy more, but my budget doesn't allow.

Gaylene

Veteran

*laughing*

Now THAT'S an style description I could adopt "Splendid Matriarch"--wearing Eileen Fisher/COS/Kaliyana clothing. Thanks, La Pedestrienne!

ETA: High five, Peri, you've put it perfectly!

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Anonymous

It's so interesting that their models and marketing is so different from their actual clientele.

ETA: Well I guess that this is true for most brands

Deborah

Veteran

I have only been into our COS store once (It's a 2 hour drive for me) but I am fascinated by the concept and I really want to be able to devote a couple of hours to browsing the store (it's very big).

I agree with your comment "with my feeling that avant-garde, unconventionally flattering clothes tend to be the domain of the older rather than the younger." Personally I find this to be true. As I get older, I am more and more comfortable dressing the way I want to. And my own preferences are for slightly more unconventionally flattering and interesting clothing.

As Peri commented, young women (and I would say young men/boys also) are so concerned with fitting in that they simply wear what everyone else wears:)

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Peri's point matches my experience. We live near a junior high and I can never get over how the girls, and especially each clump of girls tend to dress exactly alike to the last detail, no matter how it actually works on their particular selves.
I agree that Zara seems to attract clients from every walk of life. In Israel, in any case, you will find women of any age in any store without hesitation.