Cos’s Spring/Summer 2024 show looks like luxury, but without the luxury cost

But when brands from beyond Paris and Milan have the budget – and the clout – to host their own fashion show, off-schedule, and in non-fashion capitals, the orthodoxy comes into question. Because, ultimately, who’s allowed to host a fashion show that attracts the usual guests, and receives the same glowing coverage in both social and traditional media? A few years back, a high street brand showcase would’ve been swatted away. Now, it feels like a serious contender – especially when serious fashion types are into it. “I actually prefer this to some of the luxury shows, y’know,” says a fashion editor of a leading online outlet who attended the show. “There’s more time, and more space, and people are actually gonna wear a lot of it.” She’s right. For every pair of ultra-premium loafers at the pub, there are a dozen cheaper (but no less cooler) alternatives.

And rather than clamouring for attention in an already packed schedule, Cos is perhaps smart to branch out. Shipping the travelling fashion press corps to Rome feels like an event in and of itself. It won’t be overshadowed by a bigger show on the same day; it has room to breathe in ever-precious, ever-saturated Instagram Story space. “I think when you have an off-schedule show in a city that is reflective of the inspiration, it’s a really clever comms play,” says model and consultant Richard Biedul outside the show. “When you’re in Paris and it’s 10 collections a day, it can get lost. Your attention is cut short across so many things. When you do a standalone, yes it costs more, and yes there’s a risk people won’t come, but it feels like a stronger message.”

And the attention was undivided on the clothes. There were low hems and low hanging shorts, and sandals for a doomed holiday romance that begins in a crumbling taverna. There were boiler suits and mesh vests that sat at the techno end of things, and some very structured shirts. Did it offer much change from the usual Cos signature? Probably not. But that’s kinda the point. The brand practically sits alone as the sole go-to for a pan-European idea of cool. Plus, it’s just affordable enough: this is treat menswear as opposed to grail menswear.

Though the algorithm seems hellbent on providing shock over quality, it makes sense for Cos to do this sort of event show. Master of the grid Jacquemus has orchestrated a fistful of social media ‘moments’ on miles-long runways in Provençal lavender fields. Dior set a menswear show against the backdrop of the ancient pyramids of Giza. Boss went full Bellagio with a light-and-water show for its Miami-based Spring Summer collection last year (Pamela Anderson was at that one, too). If you’re into Cos – and millions of people are – chances are that the Rome spectacle ended up on your smartphone.