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It's here: the day our Swedish-minimal dreams will finally be realized! COS's first East Coast outpost opens at noon, but we stopped by the 129 Spring Street store yesterday to get a floor-by-floor tour of the four-story, possibly haunted space.
H&M's sister brand pulled out all the stops on the ground level. Walking in, you'll see COS's version of party-wear: deconstructed tuxedo dresses, silk button-downs, and sleek blazers (the proportions, head of women's design Karin Gustafsson tells us, are based on Patti Smith's signature jacket).
The second and third floors are also devoted to women's designs—with sections for workwear (leather-trimmed sweater dresses, tailored robe coats), fancy bodega runs (soft knit sweatpants, jersey tanks), and frolicking-in-the-English-countryside fantasies (tweed riding jackets, nubby oversized sweaters).
But the store's real must-see is actually in the basement, where the men's section is located. As we've previously reported, 129 Spring Street was the site of an 18th Century murder. On December 22nd, 1799 a young woman named Gulielma Elmore Sands left her Greenwich Street boarding home to elope with follow boarder, Levi Weeks. Eleven days later, her corpse was discovered at the bottom of a well in Lispenard's Meadow, which is now COS.
And, rather than build around the well, or knock it down, the retailer decided to preserve it as the centerpiece of the men's level—a spooky brick monument against a glossy white backdrop. Which will either appease the ghost, or make her haunting agenda so much easier.
COS employees refolding sweaters in the basement alone at 11:30, we feel for you.
· STOP EVERYTHING: COS Has an Opening Date! [Racked NY]
· The NYC Store With the Biggest Pre-Opening Buzz: COS [Racked NY]