London Fashion Week got into gear with Oscar Ouyang. The recent Central Saint Martins alum is now part of NewGen, having made an impression with his excellent knitwear which is already stocked at the likes of Dover Street Market.
For Ouyang’s debut fashion show, the artist Gary Card littered the catwalk in a sea of letters and notes (66 metres worth, to be exact). Ouyang called the show Don’t Shoot The Messenger, based around the imaginary tale of a medieval hunting trip. He’d sourced chicken and turkey feathers, all byproducts from the meat industry, to decorate his designs. Hand-embroidered to shorts, shoes and to the shoulders of T-shirts like little wings, his catwalk protagonists looked like they’d decorated themselves in the feathers as if they were badges of honour from their wild excursion.
Beneath the fantasy of it all were seriously shoppable clothes, particularly the knitwear, which proved to be the highlight. He chopped up Fair Isle knits to become leggings, or sliced them into capes. Knitted polo shirts were adorned with curtains of loose-hanging thread and one crocheted top came with American Football player shoulders. Ouyang is very skilled in turning traditional knitting techniques on their heads, it’s exciting to think of the ways he will continue to push the medium in his next outings.
Photography courtesy of Oscar Ouyang.
