If you’ve been following news of H&M’s impending Australian takeover closely, you’ll know it’s only two months before you can storm the Melbourne gates of fast fashion heaven as Miranda Kerr’s magnified dimples beam down upon you from a higher place (Sydney, you’ll have to wait 16 months longer).
But the best part of the Swedish high stalwart’s infiltration has been less extensively documented on Instagram. H&M has also leased a site in The Strand at 250 Elizabeth for its cult-favourite sister label COS — a minimal, still affordable line in the aesthetic vein of Celine and Stella McCartney.
The older, chicer sibling of Hennes & Mauritz AB is the chain’s most popular in-house brand, and sartorial crack for editors who flock to London and Paris during Fashion Week to fill every gap in their suitcase with its pared-back wares. Even New York is still awaiting its own COS outlet, slated to open in the U.S. in the spring, and for years you couldn’t even shop it online.
“We are all looking forward to opening COS in Australia,” said Overall Brand Responsible of COS Marie Honda. “Melbourne is a vibrant, cultural and exciting city which we feel will be the ideal setting for our first store.”
The COS site was chosen to complement the first Australian H&M store in the adjoining Melbourne GPO building. The brand has also called dibs on three levels of Sydney’s 345 George Street as well as North Ryde’s Macquarie Centre.
