Culture

Common threads: Historical fashion and its lessons for our time

When we think of historical fashion, images of towering wigs, tight-laced corsets, heavy brocades and voluminous skirts often spring to mind – ornate, impractical, and rooted firmly in the unenlightened...

Fashion Charis Patterson -

Food, fashion, and escapism in a cost of living crisis

Food costs have been front and centre in newsreels as of recent months, whether...

Fashion Charlie Bowden and Tara Earley -

Oxford Fashion Gala’s ‘Metamorphosis’ reflects the beauty of change

The Oxford Fashion Gala was back and bigger than ever, with a larger venue,...

Fashion Emma Heagney -

Tailoring expectations: Couture culture shocks

Academia has a historic relationship with fashion, both officially and unofficially. The former manifests...

Fashion Emma Heagney -

Latest

“To this I put my name”- Review: Casterbridge

If Thomas Hardy had blessed his female characters with more than an “ephemeral precious essence of youth,” perhaps he would have produced something along the lines of Dorothy McDowell’s Casterbridge, an adaptation of Hardy’s 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Review: Intimacies, after Vallotton

"Against the backdrop of Majek’s enigmatic blue-toned figures, Spencer, with the help of a multi-roling, all-Black voice cast playing a broad spectrum of characters, reveals tantalising glimpses of these figures’ lives."

Bringing Oxford theatre to London via a garden shed: an interview with the cast and crew of Casterbridge

"It’s a bit of a mad play, and a lot of quite mad things happen, because that’s what happens when you translate Victorian characters into the modern era."

How to say ‘Yes’ to everything (within reason, of course)

Image Description: A river with trees behind, in Port Meadow. A few months ago, I somehow ended up in an Improv class whilst on a...

‘Uninhibitedly comical’ – Review: The Improv Squeeze

"The performers [...] delivered a cohesive, entertaining and – dare I say it – heart-warming musical which was received with barrels of laughter."

In Conversation with Katie Melua

Where do we come from? I mean, where does it all come from, all this? – the books that we read or skim; the...

It’s Complicated: The Status of the Romantic Comedy

Dorothy Scarborough delves into the tangled history and complicated present of the beloved genre.

Behind the scenes: fashion and photography in Oxford

"A group as sartorially orientated as one named ‘The Oxford Fashion Society’ inevitably attracts those who care about what they wear. Fastidiously dressed, upright, serious-faced characters come in and sit down quickly. Tote bags are removed from shoulders. Sauntering in alongside, generally attired with less panache, are members of the photography society."

A Change of Heart

"last term I signed up, dutifully, to deliver copies of Cherwell, and was driven around by Timmy, Cherwell’s charismatic, 10-year-loyal delivery driver. Between anecdotes of farcically angry porters, the topic of conversation fell upon St Hilda’s College’s recently completed new buildings."

Hope Street: A Tale of Two Cathedrals

Nestled either end of Hope Street lie two of Britain’s great places of worship. These are the (Anglican) Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool,...

In conversation with the Oxford Opera Society

"Those who aren’t so familiar with the plots of the major operas, or who wish to immerse themselves in the romance, revenge and occasional comedy so characteristic of the genre, needn’t worry that Opera Scenes isn’t staging a full production."

‘It leaves you in awe’, Ants From Up There – Black Country, New Road Album Review

Ants From Up There is the sophomore album from acclaimed experimental rock outfit Black Country, New Road – equal parts anthemic and introspective, the...

South Asian upbringing: Bollywood as propaganda

CW: Violence, discussions of Nazism Under the supervision of Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany produced 1,200 feature films both before and during the Second World War....

Val Lewton’s 75-Minute Masterpieces

A lot of old movies are boring. That admission may cost me my credibility as a film nerd, but it’s true. But there are classic films that even my limited attention span can wholeheartedly enjoy, and very high on that list are the horror movies of Val Lewton.

Culture

Common threads: Historical fashion and its lessons for our time

Food, fashion, and escapism in a cost of living crisis

Oxford Fashion Gala’s ‘Metamorphosis’ reflects the beauty of change

Tailoring expectations: Couture culture shocks

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