At the start of the video “Around COS” we see two figures standing beneath a gray dome. The camera is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, exploring the scene in gliding 360-degree arcs. The concepts at play are broad — self-feeding cycles, fugue repetition — yet the presentation feels playful, even warm. Considering the artists are working without music, color, or dialogue, this is quite the accomplishment.

Among the creative partnerships forged to celebrate launching the COS Autumn/Winter 2015 collection, artists Lernert & Sander create a particularly pleasing counterpoint to the COS brand. Both groups thrive on at the intersection of art and utility, and both bring to mind a sense of Scandinavian stoicism.

“We like to strip an idea to the bone and make the idea shine. So eventually our sets always look simple and monochrome,” explain the artists on the unusual set created for the COS A/W 2015 collection shoot. The space, a self-contained dome designed to allow the cameras to capture the models from all directions, is one of many conceptual circles at play in collaboration. The womb-like set necessitated that instructions be given to the models via megaphone.

Similar to the COS collections, the aesthetics Lernert & Sander create are so pure that they seem to take on qualities of things around them — like a white piece of paper left out in the sun, or the unconscious composition of a painter’s palate board. The point, in their own words, is to “elevate the idea.”

Like a good garment, perfection is reached when the consumer feels they’ve been given a blank canvas. Style disappears, replaced by a sort of emotional utility.

View COS A/W 2015 collection LookBook.

— Words by VAGA editors. This post is sponsored by The 7th Chamber