Milan 2014: brushed steel frames surround monochrome shirts at this installation that Japanese studio Nendo has created for fashion brand COS, unveiled in Milan today (+ movie).

The COS x Nendo installation comprises a series of white shirts, which are displayed on stands and hung from the ceiling at different heights throughout the space.

Geometric brushed-steel frames in a variety of heights and widths surround the clothes, and the parts of the shirts that sit inside them are dyed with different shades of grey.

"I feel that Nendo and Cos have a lot in common with how we see things, simplicity, purity and focusing on the small details," said Nendo founder Oki Sato. "When you look at a white shirt from COS it explains so much, so I decided to let the shirt do the talking."

At the front of the space are five metal frames that incrementally increase in size. These surround a series of shirts, which gradually change colour from white to dark grey according to the scale of the surrounding stand.

"The white shirt is the cornerstone of our design philosophy; we love to reinvent them every season and so we were really excited that Nendo picked the shirt as a centrepiece for the installation, as it is such an important part of our collection," said Martin Andersson, head of menswear design at COS.

The installation is on show from 8 to 13 April at Via delle Erbe 2, in the Brera district of Milan, above Nendo's solo exhibition that features the studio's furniture patterned with brush strokes and chairs with wood grain patterns printed onto natural timber. Visitors are invited to browse and purchase pieces by COS and Nendo at the exhibition.

Photography is by Daici Ano.