Illustration by Minnie Leaver
The Oxford Fashion Gala is a collaborative project between Oxford Fashion Society and Industry Magazine, taking place on May 3rd at Freud with the dress code âdress like Anna Wintour is watching.â Ahead of the gala, I interviewed 5 of the 15 designers participating in Oxford Universityâs first fashion show who, at the time of the interview, were in the initial stages of creating their outfits. Coming from such different backgrounds and in different stages of life – from first year to masterâs students – the Oxford Fashion Gala appears to be very diverse, allowing for a great range of creative display and cultural inspiration.
Meet Tara
Tara is no stranger to the fashion world – having worked for Grazia magazine writing on Middle Eastern creatives over lockdown, she has been making her own clothes to sell since 2019. Since graduating from Corpus Christi, Taraâs inspiration for her designs is wide-ranging, from small businesses online to the iconic Miu Miu puffer jackets, but she works best on following creative impulses from designs in her mind. Although this is her first fashion show, she is not backing down from a challenge, aspiring to create three outfits which she says are âslightly different from what I usually wear,â and experimenting with black and white prints on calico or canvas fabric. Equipped with a sewing machine and crochet techniques (which she started out perfecting with bracelets at the age of six), Taraâs current designs feature various tops, and shorts with one piece being a vest blazer and skirt combination following sandy, natural tones of beiges, greens, and blues.
âItâs fun to see how I can play with gender in outfits and gender exploration,â says Tara, âI think itâs important to do,â and whilst the outfits can be worn as separate pieces, they ultimately âwork together well as a set of three,â taken from her freehand sketches. I discussed the theme of gender exploration further with Tara to find that she is heavily influenced by her friends who âdress more gender neutral,â enjoying putting âstuff together that wouldnât necessarily go together â odd silhouettes and colours,â no doubt also influenced by her current masterâs degree in gender studies at London School of Economics and Political Science. âExperimentingâ is the keyword in Taraâs designs and although she âdefinitely wants to keep designing as a hobby,â she finds the fashion industry very âgatekeep-yâ and struggles to see how she could penetrate it career-wise. Many brands have recently incorporated more gender-neutral clothing into their fashion shows such as Lanvin, Valentino and Christian Louboutin. However, they still have a long way to go in diversifying their clothing and even when taking steps to include minority groups, these labels have the advantage of already being recognised worldwide.
Meet Thomas
Despite doing an art foundation year in 2021 in which he heavily focused on tapestries, the Oxford Fashion Gala marks Lincoln first year Thomasâ first-time making clothes. Inspired by his interest in Black-American quilt artists and various techniques and skills he has honed over time, Thomas is completely self-taught in the world of fashion â using a sewing machine to create his entire design. The piece itself is ambitious; taking inspiration from the Battenberg cake and its significance to the royal family, Thomas is creating a striking skirt made from pink and gold checkerboard quilted squares, adorned with pearls around the waistline, complete with a shirt and lace top over. The top half is anything but an afterthought, as Thomas is a huge fan of lace – âthink grandmotherâs curtainsâ -and plans to have it flowing throughout the design.
âBeing Black British is definitely important to the design, it influences all my artistic processes”. Whilst Thomasâ piece is ânot about race specifically,â it has had an influence as he is considering the idea of using a shirt which has the image of a Black cherub. I was lucky enough to see some of Thomasâ previous designs which showcase his love of bright colours, variety of textures and collage-like designs, reflecting his personal style and avoiding monochrome. As an English student âstorytelling and literary inspiration do play a part as I am always trying to have a narrative in mindâ says Thomas, as he likes to pair striking and serious silhouettes with more light-hearted and playful features, leaning away from casual looks but using basic items such as t-shirts to create more amplified looks. Thomas has always been interested in fashion, but without someone to teach him, he has found himself holding back at times. The gala is, therefore, âa good way of forcing yourself to take the plunge.â Whilst it has no doubt been a lot of hard work, he is keen to stay involved in the fashion industry in the future – this gala will mark his first clothing showcase and debut as a designer.Â
Meet Jeea
Running on creative impulses and spontaneous ideas, first year History and Politics student Jeea is her own muse, creating pieces that she wishes she had in her wardrobe. After labelling herself âa very big feminist,â I discussed Jeeaâs exploration of her femininity and its influence on her general style to which she responded, âwhen I think about womenâs rights and feminism, I often find myself comparing it to what men have â but you canât appreciate femininity if youâre always associating it with men.â Although she admires the jewels and extravagance that come with her Indian heritage, Jeeaâs design is not influenced by this. Instead, combining her love of animals and a monochrome Matrix-like feel, Jeeaâs design will be a grunge, black and white look with the centrepiece being a butterfly top that wraps around her body.
In the absence of a sewing machine both at Wadham and at home, Jeea is embroidering, hand-stitching and hot glue gunning pieces together, adding to her desire to create a more âfrayed, haphazard look,â whilst throwing in some silver metallic and sparkly features. Although she has been sewing for the past 7 years, upon asking whether or not she would like to design at a higher level in the future, Jeea chuckled and said, âI just do this every so often for a bit of a laugh – Iâm not a professional, I just dress weirdly,â leading me to ask her if sheâd considered a career in comedy. At the gala, we can expect to see a powerful outfit which combines feminine designs with masculine textures such as leather from Jeea, and I eagerly anticipate seeing this butterfly take wing.
Meet Rose
St Edmundâs Hall Geographer Rose is going big and bold with her design, which features a foil exoskeleton that she is melding together with a blowtorch and attaching to her dress. âMy design is very runway – Iâm not sure how practical [it is], but itâs definitely out there!â says the first year. âI have a lot of strong opinions on clothes, so I end up spending rather a lot of time editing things to my exact taste.â When asked whether this distinctive design choice was reflective of her personal style, Rose answered âmy personal clothes are more pastel, jewel tones and muted colour, Iâm not such a fan of black coloursâ so we can be sure to say that this outfit will be a striking contrast from what the designer is typically seen in, albeit a welcome one.
From a very young age, Rose has been creative, which she attributes to her mumâs influence. However, in this instance, it was the 1938 Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali âSkeleton Dressâ that inspired the centrepiece of the design â along with elements of the 2022 Spring/Summer Maison Schiaparelli collection. The exoskeleton which wraps around the body, focusing on the rib cage, is reminiscent of the corset worn by Dita Von Teese in the Jean Paul Gaultier 2010 Autumn Haute Couture show and remains Roseâs biggest concern for the design â not so much its construction but more so how she intends to take it on and off. Having started experimenting with clothes by making alterations at the age of 14, Rose states that she often finds herself âgoing down a rabbit hole of Depop and eBay to find the perfect addition to my outfits.â Sewing was initially more of a meditative hobby for Rose, but she could now see herself working in the fashion industry, although and I quote, âyouâd need to dedicate a lot of your life trying to break into it and I donât know if Iâm ready to do that yet.â
Meet Jon
Inspired by brands such as Maison Margiela, Jonâs design focuses on the processes of upcycling and reconstruction. Although well into his second year as a Chemistry student at Lincoln, Jon studied Fashion and Textiles at A-Level and even considered pursuing fashion at a higher level. Had he not come to Oxford however, we may have never seen this exact creation of Jonâs as it is heavily influenced by Oxford Universityâs frequent black- and white-tie events. We can expect Jonâs outfit to resemble a tailcoat which has been created from deconstructed charity shop pieces, a favourite of Jonâs as he says, ânot only is it cheap but you donât feel bad buying second-hand clothes.â
His friendships and identity as a queer man have âkind of bled into inspiration for work,â as what started out as occasional edits made to clothes for his friends, turned into Jon perceiving his friends as his muses, one of whom will be modelling the tailcoat at Oxford Fashion Gala which marks Jonâs debut designer showcase. Whilst his entire design is handsewn, Jon has been âplaying aroundâ with his design, âtaking it apart and putting it back togetherâ and has faced a couple of issues in the process such as the top half of the tailcoat which has been âsitting quite boxyâ due to the addition of shoulder pads, so it will be interesting to see just how much Jonâs design has changed from his initial sketches at the gala.Â
All five designers said that the Oxford Fashion Gala will mark the first public showcase of their clothing and, by following their creative processes up until the day of the gala, it will be intriguing to see what changes to the designs were made, if any. Using such a variety of materials and equipment from sewing machines to blowtorches, Oxford Universityâs first fashion gala is testing not only the skills, but also the courage of these creatives, as they allow their designs to be scrutinised by the public eye.Â