As preparation hots up for Oxford Fashion Week’s Autumn/Winter event next month, Annabal Bagdi takes a look at what goes on behind the scenes to make the glittering event such a success

PINS, needles and threads are at the ready as preparations for the city’s biggest fashion extravaganza heats up.

Organisers of Oxford Fashion Week are gearing up for their Autumn/Winter show next month.

But preparations to pull off such a showstopper have to begin well in advance.

City of Oxford College student designers already have their eyes on next year’s event.

Oxford Mail:

  • Mitchell Gage, 18

Fashion Week organiser Carl Anglim said: “We have involved students from the City of Oxford College every season since the first Oxford Fashion Week in 2009 and every year they have been extraordinary, energetic and enthusiastic in their willingness to get stuck into every detail of what we do.

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“The students throw themselves fully into learning as much as they can about the whole process of operating in the fashion industry and they are a pleasure to have as part of the team.”

Course leader Lyn Hall said Oxford Fashion Week organisers were impressed after visiting students in June following their annual end of term show.

Students were given the opportunity to create their own fashion collections with the chance of showing off the results of their hardwork on the runway next year.

This term, about 15 students between the ages of 17 and 21 have been spending 15 hours a week working on their designs.

Oxford Mail:

 Carl Anglim

Each student has chosen one stand-out outfit from their collection to produce in time for the Spring/Summer shows. They will take to the catwalk to model their masterpieces during a December photoshoot.

Ms Hall said: “It’s a massive opportunity for them. For us and the college, it’s a great opportunity to see how students excel in the industry they have chosen.

“They get a real insight into how the fashion industry operates.

“Oxford Fashion Week is a great focus on Oxford and a really great way to showcase local designers and people who really love the fashion industry.”

Mini mannequins crafted last year by the college’s fashion students are set to be exhibited at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History next month.

The Parks Road museum will host three Oxford Fashion Week shows, including the Independent Collections and Couture shows and the Birds of Paradise show.

City of Oxford College student Alison Brodie, 18, from Kidlington said: “I think all the class feel really excited.

“It can be quite stressful but that’s because we want everything to be perfect.

“Fashion is my lifestyle, it’s what I do, it’s want I want to be able to do.

“Oxford Fashion Week is helping me to push myself forward. It has given me lots of opportunities.”

The Face of Oxford, the person who will represent the week-long fashion feast, will be revealed tonight at a special event. People have been voting for their favourite model on Facebook.

The foundations of a model show

A host of backstage experts are putting the hours in to ensure that everyone is looking their best.

Expert teams of make-up artists and hairdressers are firing up their foundations and bringing out the brushes ahead of Oxford Fashion Week.

Already getting the prep in have been a group of models and their backstage teams at a pre-event shoot at Oxford Brookes University on Monday.

It is the first time Sabiha Subhan, who has been working as a freelance hair and make-up artist for the past three to four years, has taken part in the trend-setting event.

And for the mum-of-two it’s a great opportunity to show off her talents, honed over the past 14 years through her passion for fashion, while balancing the demands of a busy family life.

Oxford Mail:

  • Andrea Dann of Oxford Brookes Fashion Society gets a mini-makeover from hair and makeup artist Sabiha Subhan

Mrs Subhan, who is mainly self-taught but has attended courses in Birmingham and London, said: “[Having children] is why I had been doing it on and off. Hair and make-up is something I was always doing but it was never fixed.

“I was always getting pregnant or having the babies.”

She added: “It’s my first time in Oxford Fashion Week. It’s definitely a really nice feeling to be taking part in it.”

Mrs Subhan, who lives in Cowley, added that the final details were still being ironed out, but a team of up to eight make-up and hair experts are preparing the finishing touches. It is expected they will be given charge of three models each throughout the shows.

Able to turn her hand to either making up a striking face or teasing tresses into traffic-stopping hairdos, Mrs Subhan is raring to put her skills to the test.

The 30-year-old said: “It depends on the outfit and on the show and what look the model wants to create.

“You use your imagination to create something along what they want. I know it straightaway once you look at a person.

“It’s pretty much straight- forward how it should look. You can see it in your mind.

“What’s important is making sure you get things right so it looks just perfect. As long as make-up is put on properly – blending is the key.”

Andrea Dann was one of the girls to get a free makeover.

Oxford Mail:

  • Oxford Fashion Week assistant director Tiffany Saunders

The final-year communications student, 20, said: “It was really lovely to get my hair and makeup done by the team. It was really relaxing. I told them what I wanted and they definitely delivered that. They were really professional.”

The Cowley resident, a member of the Oxford Brookes Fashion Society, was also hoping to pick up some tips from the event.

She said: “We’re holding our fashion show on November 28 and it was great to work with them and get people interested.

“I’m hoping to volunteer during Oxford Fashion Week and get some experience.”

One of the week’s directors, Tiffany Saunders, said: “The event at Brookes was a huge success. We had a catwalk stage built, a make-up team and hairdressers from our hair partner Matthew Clulee all on hand to do the make-up and hair of passers-by.

“It was great to be at the university to talk to lecturers and students about Oxford Fashion Week.”

What's on at next month’s top event

Oxford Mail:

  • Malmaison Oxford

LINGERIE SHOW – Wednesday, November 5, Malmaison Oxford, Oxford Castle, 7.30pm.

HIGH Street COLLECTIONS – Thursday, November 6 at The Varsity Club, High Street, 7.30pm

INDEPENDENT COLLECTIONS – Friday, November 7, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, 6pm

COUTURE SHOW – Friday, November 7, Oxford University Museum of Natural History galleries, 7.30pm

BIRDS OF PARADISE SHOW – Saturday, November 8, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, 7pm.

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