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

Review: At Eternity’s Gate

It is worth watching At Eternity’s Gate for Julian Schnabel’s mesmerising cinematography alone. This new biopic of Vincent van Gogh, with the titular character...

Review: Four Men in Their Respective Cells – ‘a whistle-stop psychological drama’

Though hitting the right notes thematically, Four Men in Their Respective Cells lacks polish and a conclusive ending

Is the band ‘shame’ just shameful?

A discussion on how Shame have inherited the punk ethos

The New Bridget Jones?

Reviewing ‘Queenie’ by Candice Carty-Williams (Trapeze, 2019).

Sustainable Summer: the best eco-friendly swimwear

As summer rolls around and the days get (mildly) sunnier, it’s easy to get sucked back into the culture of buying a whole new...

“Vagina.” There, I said it.

Vulvar art and gendered fantasy

Ballroom Brutalism

So often images of Oxford balls focus on the perfectly dressedagainst the backdrop of an ancient college. We wanted to subvertthis and...

Daydreamers: Fantasy in the Face of Stasis

There’s a scene in one of my favourite films, High Fidelity (2000), in which John Cusack’s Rob plays out a number of angry reactions in his head...

Luke Skywalker: The Fantasy of a Hero

The first Star Wars film that I ever properly watched was Revenge of the Sith. It remains an epic that details the rise of one of...

Singing to Say No to Cinematic Fantasies

"Titanic Rising" is an album that dispels the fantasies presented by film

Restaurant Review: Mowgli

Mowgli's level of confusion and menu felt unimpressive

To Sleep, Per-Cheese to Dream?

We've all heard it said that bad dreams can be blamed on eating cheese before bed. But is there any truth to the old rumour? The British Cheese Board and various others try to find out.

Hybridity and gendered versatility are the way forward in fashion

I think it’s uncontroversial to claim that gender has been integral to fashion since it’s very creation. Garments have historically been essential expressions of ‘masculinity’ and...

Reviving Retail?

What retailers are actually looking for is offering the right kind of new experience, something that doesn’t make the consumer feel uncool; something that offers them something truly different to what they can get online.

A round-up of spring 2019 beauty trends

‘Florals? For Spring? Ground-breaking.’ (Opening a fashion article with that quote? Ground-breaking.) Except, Miranda Priestly’s eviscerating dismissal (coupled with a withering stare) is perhaps...