Scandi style - and you don't need sub-titles

61-year old Anna models the collection

Looking Our Best knows all about the big bad Vikings.  Circa 913 AD, you were well advised to stay home of an evening inside your Long Tower, rustling up some goat stew, darning your wimple, and safe from the horned- helmet hordes plundering all before outside.  

Blue cotton pleat top with curved hem

Any invasion by our Scandi neighbours these days is of a more benign nature, chiefly with imaginative tv drama: if you’re at home of an evening now,  chances are you playing catch-up with some quality Nordic noir detective yarn.

But Scandinavia is also famous for much more. Many of the great Modernist architects and furniture designers hail from the region. Increasingly adding to the honours are the clothing designers. 

On a trip to London last weekend, LOB nipped in to the Regent Street branch of Cos to check out their summer range first hand.  Cos – Collection of Style – is a classy brand launched in 2007 under the Swedish giant Hennes & Mauritz and is more high-end than it’s younger H & M sister. Their design concept extends to stand- alone stores which preserve original features while creating what they call a ‘gallery space’ for the collections. 

Poplin shirt dress

The Regent Street branch is typical of this, with the clothes themselves of a minimal, unfussy design that require no subtitles. Key to the appeal here is the choice of fabrics;  light-weight cotton poplins sit alongside fluid jerseys and smooth silks, in cool, neutral colours.

Most Cos dresses feature side pockets

Because the look is so pared-back and lives  beyond the short fashion season, it’s one that is also non-age specific.  In the current Cos Magazine, 61 year-old Berlin based teacher and model, Anna con Ruden, models this summer’s simplest cottons and silks with a style that is effortless and elegant.

Milano-knit top with belt

LOB fell for a palest, latte coloured shirt- dress in crisp, cool-to-the-touch lightweight cotton, with pleats and handy side pockets (most Cos dresses have side pockets.) 

Silk slip on top with stand up collar

Other temptations included plain sleeveless tops in whiter-than-white poplin or silk to smarten linen trousers or jeans.

So if you are after some cool, Scandi style this summer, check out a collection that’s as understated and un-ruffled as Detective Inspector Sarah Lund herself. 

(All clothes from Cos.  
Many items are now on sale with reductions up to 50% ( dresses now averaging €50).