DESIGNERS from Oxford have described their next moves after their work went on display at the city’s second fashion week.

Cowley designer Dimple Rani Lal is set to go into production with her first-ever collection after her pieces wowed the crowd at a lingerie show at the Malmaison hotel last week.

Meanwhile, Cherwell School pupil Emily Avery took her first steps into the fashion industry when one of her creations was shown in a style show at the Town Hall.

Miss Rani Lal showed five sets of couture lingerie for her label Pure Chemistry, and is now aiming to take her designs to Paris and London Fashion Week later in the year.

The former St Gregory the Great pupil currently has two jobs.

However she hopes the interest generated by the fashion week means she will be able to downscale her work in property management to become a full-time designer.

The 36-year-old said: “Oxford Fashion Week was a platform for me to move forward and it helped generate a lot of interest.

“I only found when I turned up to the show that my pieces were going to be used as the finale for the lingerie show, but I was ecstatic that my designs received the attention I wanted.

“My designs are all about elegance, and classic designs with a modern twist. Fashion is a way of expression and even in lingerie, through my designs, I like to give self-confidence and control to modern, free-spirited women.”

Her designs, which cost between £80 and £300, are now set to go into production in Nottingham in the next few weeks.

Miss Avery, an A-Level student from Cutteslowe, is hoping for a bright career in fashion after her home-made blue silk and lace dress was picked to be shown on the opening day of the fashion week.

The keen designer has already been accepted to take an art foundation course at the London College of Fashion or Oxford Brookes University.

She is now hoping to be able to sell some of the designs she makes at home on her grandmother’s Overlocker sewing machine.

The 18-year-old said: “I was so pleased to be involved in Oxford Fashion Week.

“The event is a great opportunity.

“London Fashion Week is so popular but as a smaller city it’s nice our fashion week is centred on local independent designers as well as established ones.”