Welcome to The Great Try-On. With autumn well and truly in the air, we seized the opportunity to try on some of the best new-in pieces from some of your favourite brands, documenting the process along the way. We believe that the best way to shop online is to see an item IRL and to read candid reviews, so we hope that this leads you to your most successful purchases of the year.
The start of any season can be overwhelming; just when you get into the swing of dressing for a particular climate and forecast, almost overnight, you have to reevaluate what works and what doesn’t when the new season decides to begin, basically without warning. And right now, I’m going through this process now that it’s autumn. I love autumn, always have—it’s the time of year I feel most myself. A homebody through and through, I love nothing more than creating a cosy space to relax in, save perhaps taking a stroll around my neighbourhood (preferably with a hot chocolate in hand) and hearing the leaves crunch underfoot. However, this autumn is different as I feel very unprepared for it. Why? Because I genuinely don’t have much in the way of an autumn wardrobe any more. It’s been years since I properly stocked up on knitwear, boots and coats, to the point where, when I took what I did have down from the loft where it’s been hiding since April, I was struck at how little there was. My knitwear has seen much better days, and my coats, well, they’re looking a bit tired, too. In terms of boots, my more practical pairs are still as solid as ever, but the pointed-toe style design I snapped up from Arket four years ago hasn’t aged quite as well, the once sharp point now a blunt stub. That’s it, I thought—I’ll nurse what I can, but I can’t put off making a few key autumnal investments any longer. I’ll have to go shopping, by which I mean in-real-life shopping, not online for a change. And for my first port of call? It was always going to be COS.
I enjoy shopping at COS; no less because the shop floor is so well merchandised. Unlike many other stores, which can spike my cortisol with their disorganisation and messiness, COS is one of the rare brick-and-mortar shops that boasts an air of calm. The rails are never too cluttered—I like being able to see everything clearly—and everything has its place. Bags are neatly lined up and positioned in designated accessory areas, while shoes are placed in pairs (pairs!) directly below the pieces they actually go with. This, dear readers, is how shopping should be (at least in the eyes of this time-poor millennial).
Beyond this, it should go without saying that I also enjoy shopping at COS because I like what they stock. The brand is rare in that it doesn’t blindly follow trends. Sure, it’ll adopt certain things, such as a core colour or a timely silhouette and make it its own, but that’s what makes it so appealing—the COS take. I asked my colleagues how they’d describe COS, and the words that kept cropping up were “timeless”, “classic” and “anti-trend”; all words and turns of phrase I certainly wouldn’t mind being attributed with! Handily, this is precisely how I’d describe COS’s autumn 2024 collection, too; very refined—minimal, without being austere or cold—with pieces that blend seamlessly together. Here’s what I mean by that.
Upon entering the store, a few items immediately caught my eye, so I gathered them up and headed straight to the changing room. I didn’t have to think about styling or what would work best together—it all just did. Skirts paired elegantly with tops, and then the tops then worked with jeans. Jeans were switched out for tailored trousers and, still, everything looked harmonious together. COS really does make putting together a capsule wardrobe very easy, but that is also the dangerous part—hand on heart, everything I ended up trying I would have gladly (very gladly) taken home with me. In fact, there were two pieces I couldn’t leave the store without purchasing. What were they, I hear you ask? I’ll tell you, so long as you don’t mind me sharing the other buys I also loved and felt did my 5’3, hourglass true size 12figuire justice.
So, for my review of COS’s autumn 2024 collection, scroll on to see what I tried on and read my honest thoughts on every single item.
See My Favourite Pieces From My COS Autumn 2024 Try-On
My Review: One thing I’ve never invested a lot of money into is knitwear. Yes, I own knitwear and, in my line of work, I have been gifted knitwear in the past, but it’s never been a category that I’ve spent a lot on. And, looking at my current collection of jumpers and cardigans, I think this would be apparent. All pretty misshapen despite the fact I’ve washed them per instructions and with unsightly bobbling even my finest toothed wool brush can’t remove, they’re all bit tatty. While I won’t be getting rid of them—I can wear them around the house after all!—I would like a knit that’s a little more put together and expensive-looking. This COS style caught my eye the moment I crossed the store’s threshold.
Available in a classic black, sleek grey and this, the perfect shade of olive green, even on the hanger I could tell this would look beautiful on. At the risk of sounding arrogant, it did. I picked up a medium which was just how I wanted it to be—roomy. Incredibly soft to the touch—that’ll be the cashmere—but with a neat purl that gives it a luxury-feeling weight, this draped elegantly on the body. I could have sized down to a small, but for all intensive purposes of trying on as many pieces as I could, I stuck with the medium. Pairing it with COS’s bestselling tapered jeans, I loved the combination of green and off-white together. Here I’m wearing the jeans in a size 32—the brand’s biggest. I could have sized down to a 31, perhaps even a 30, but neither were available in store that day. I ended up buying the 32 as, like I said, I liked the slouched look they gave. I’ve had to take in the waistline to make it fit (as an hourglass, that’s the smallest part of my frame) but around the hips, it’s not far off a perfect fit. As much as I liked the comfort of this style, I am disappointed that this is as far as the brand has gone with the upper end of its sizing. Like I said, I’m a pretty true size 12—sometimes a 14 in trousers that have a straight cut—so there is major room for growth and expansion here.
Accessory-wise, I grabbed a pair of ankle boots complete with a curved heel (stock is currently running low online but I’ve been assured more units are coming) and the brand’s iconic leather sling bag. Both were all I needed to pull together what I think makes the perfect elevated everyday look.
