OXFORD’s first Fashion Week started with a bang – with more than 400 people attending two sold-out catwalk shows.

Last night, models strutted down the runway in more than 40 outlandish creations in a fashion concept show to celebrate unusual design at Freuds Cafe in Walton Street.

Among the freaky frocks on show were dresses made entirely from silk flowers, balloons, pillows and a model in a dress shaped like a Christmas bauble.

The audience at the fashion show were also treated to samples of concept food including cabbage and Skittles canapes, liquorice mushrooms and fruit kebabs coated in chocolate.

The night followed hot on the high heels of the launch event on Sunday at which 200 people watched a short retro clothes show at the Bridge nightclub in Hythe Bridge Street, featuring designer labels such as LK Bennett, Zara, Superdry and French Connection.

Organiser Carl Anglim, of Bullingdon Road, East Oxford, said: “The concept show was amazing.

“We wanted it to be as bizarre and as challenging as possible. We asked the designers to throw the rulebook out of the window and that’s exactly what they did.

“There was lots of spontaneous applause and catcalls on the night and we like to see that, we want people to come and enjoy themselves.”

He added: “This is a whole new platform for the fashion industry.

“Milan and London is too expensive for new designers to show their clothes and there’s no need for it to be like that.”

Designers exhibiting at Oxford Fashion Week are being given space to show their clothes for free in the first year.

Fiona Horbye, 53, from South Oxfordshire, who attended the concept show, said: “It’s been fantastic.

“Even if you wouldn’t wear any of the clothes, what the designers came up with was inspirational.”

Kat Clarke, 20, from Cowley, said: “It’s been amazing. I loved it. The clothes were really exciting and bizarre.”

One of the biggest cheers was reserved for a seven foot denim patchwork wedding dress and matching umbrella made by 17-year-old fashion student Rosie Dennington who attends Oxford and Cherwell Valley College.

Miss Dennington, from Eynsham, said: “It’s been fantastic. The week’s given me such a great opportunity to show my clothes and I’ve been able to work behind the scenes every day at a big fashion event. You can’t buy experience like this.”

The fashion week concludes with a couture show displaying evening wear and cutting-edge clothes from designers such as Alexander McQueen at the Sheldonian Theatre on Friday.

cwalker@oxfordmail.co.uk