Architect of fashion

COS doesn't do fashion shows. As much as most labels thrive on staging a fashion spectacle to garner headlines and viral buzz, the low-key retailer is the epitome of understatement. So what does it do to present its new collection to international industry insiders in Hong Kong? Erect a gallery-like showcase - in collaboration with design wunderkind Andre Fu.

"It's so nice to have that interactive element with Andre's structure, which is almost like a celebration of the kind of urban environment here in Asia," explains Martin Andersson, head of menswear design, COS. "And also from a presentation point of view, we also felt that it's important that it wasn't a catwalk show, it's a kind of meeting between architectural design factors and fashion."

Architect Andre Fu, the University of Cambridge architecture grad behind hotels such as The Upper House in Hong Kong, first met the COS team during the brand's launch at Galerie Perrotin, which he had designed. For the Fall 2015 preview, he transformed the upper storey of a pier overlooking Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour into a modernist space using a melange of glass cubes, planes and mirrors. The gritty locale with sweeping vistas of the skyline has been a go-to destination for cool events of late.