Students dressed in formal attire and gathered on Oxford’s Quadrangle on March 27 as upbeat music played and dim lights cast over Seney Hall, marking the beginning of OxGala, an annual fashion show featuring original outfits sourced and designed entirely by students, hosted by the student-run fashion magazine Eternal Magazine.
The show came to life under purple lights and energetic music. Hosts Pierce McDade (25Ox) and Annika Cunningham (25Ox) introduced the event, through humorous dialogue about the show’s themes of mythical tales' morals and misconceptions.
The show comprised three sections: looks from Eternal Magazine issue 03, cultural clothing and a walk featuring the executive members. The first section of the show showcased apparel inspired by Eternal Magazine’s upcoming issue, which focuses on mythical characters like sirens and Dracula. However, the show also featured figures from lesser-known mythologies like Hachishakusama, an eight-foot-tall woman from Japanese mythology and Mahaha, an arctic demon in Inuit mythology.
For this show, the founding Editor-in-Chief and current Creative Director of Eternal Magazine, Sarah Cassell (25Ox), wanted to highlight underrepresented mythologies and broaden the audience's perspectives regarding folklore and storytelling.
“I really wanted to draw from a lot of different types of mythology, because I feel like, and I especially realize this being an art history major, weirdly, that when people think of myths, they only think of Greek and Roman,” Cassell said. “There’s so much mythology out there.”
In the second portion of the show, Oxford students presented traditional clothing of their cultures, featuring pieces from Mexican, Korean, South Asian and East African cultures.
In the show's final section, Eternal Magazine’s executive board appeared one by one, each in dazzling outfits that accentuated their personal charm as they delivered their last bow to the crowd.
While Cassell is passionate about Eternal Magazine, she wanted a more diverse and interactive form of storytelling than print media could offer, which led to the creation of OxGala.
“As much as Eternal Magazine does celebrate art and fashion on its own as a publication, I think that a fashion show is the epitome of what fashion really is,” said Cassell.
Cassell hoped to celebrate all kinds of art at OxGala, including the art of fashion, painting, music and food. While her primary love is fashion, she wanted to dedicate the gala to many kinds of creativity.
“I did also want ot to be a big art celebration, which is what made me want to add the gallery. I wanted to get as many art clubs involved as possible,” Cassell said. “It was just really exciting to get to connect with a lot of artists.”
The event's organizational process mobilized a large, efficient team of 23 executive members. The event planning began with selecting the right candidates for the show’s runway and the magazine’s printed copy, followed by member coordination and clothing collection by the beauty directors and styling teams.
“They came up with all the concepts. They styled everyone, of course, but they also took things from their own closets, they thrifted, they dug through other people’s closets,” Cassell said.
Cassell reached out to Associate Professor of Art History and Studio Art Tasha Dobbin-Bennett to get the artwork needed for the art gallery. She also utilized connections with Team Up Mentoring, an educational organization that helps children affected by trauma, which helped her acquire artwork created by local youth.
Taeyoung Kim (25Ox), who wore an elegant traditional Korean dress known as a hanbok during the show, thoroughly enjoyed the modeling experience.
“I didn’t really feel the impact until I saw my friends' faces,” Kim said. “It was really fun. It was really nerve-wracking.”
Audience member Anna Guan (26Ox) felt excited about seeing her friends in such a different setting. She said she felt deeply impressed by the designs and the commendable creativity of her peers.
“It was really fun to see my friends dress up, and even if they’re not [on] the runway, [to] see their work was pretty cool,” she said. “I also really liked the exhibition as well.”
Reflecting on the event, Cassell remarks about how quickly it went by, even with all of the weeks spent planning and designing the gala.
“It’s a really ephemeral process, but it was really, really rewarding,” Cassell said.
During a night of fashion and art, OxGala gave the stage to students whose passions lie in the perhaps overlooked field of art while demonstrating the power of fashion and art to revive old stories and unite communities.
