Culture

The legacy of the caricature

That the ‘In Memoriam’ section of the 2026 Academy Awards is going to be a serious tear-jerker was solidified by the passing of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry over two consecutive days.

Room on the pitch: Football fans and feminine fashion

With the FIFA World Cup 2026 having just begun, I’m reminded of a question a friend once asked the group chat: “If I buy a Lionesses shirt, do you guys think I’ll be called a pick-me?”

Colour and codification: Eleanor Medhurst on queer fashion

"There’s a lot of symbolism within queer fashion: ways to speak with our appearance when it hasn’t always been safe or possible to share our identities out loud."

Glamour and gossip: Oxford Fashion Society’s ‘Women in Fashion’

Is there hope for young journalists in the midst of an unemployment crisis, funding cuts to arts-based degrees, and the unknowns of AI? Yes, Julia and Daisy think, but it is by far the hardest time to be a new fashion journalist.

‘Femboys’, fads and anti-boy-band fashion: is gender fluid dressing still a distant dream?

We can only hope that, as trends usually do, the co-ed conception of fashion will trickle down from high fashion into the high street.

The Show Must Go On…but not in every region of the UK

Several regional theatres have struggled to cope in the pandemic, due to persistent negligence and underfunding for decades, both by regional funding bodies and the government themselves.

Review: The Dancing Men

"The whole crew behind this production are worthy of praise for their resourcefulness, having produced a piece which works with, rather than against, its unusual circumstances".

Lighting: the art of manipulating the audience

The effect of light is upon the unconscious, unacknowledged unless you are thinking about it, but it’s influencing you all the same.

Instead Of

"I won't have to close my eyes to remember your smile."

Review: Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘If We Make It Through December’ EP

Coming off the post-apocalyptic scream that concluded Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers’ 2020 album (my favourite album this year, and possibly ever), the muted buzz of...

Christmas Songs: The Hidden Treasures and Epic Failures

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been listening to Christmas songs since the beginning of November. Oxmas is without doubt one of the very...

Review: Bring Me the Horizon’s ‘Post Humans: Survival Horror’ EP

In November 2019, frontman of Bring Me The Horizon, Oli Sykes, boldly claimed that the band were “not going to do an album again,...

Cherwell Recommends: Bildungsroman

"Are we destined to become who we are as adults, or are we formed by our experiences on the way? It happens to all of us, but the process of growing up continues to fascinate writers, artists, and filmmakers, for it surrounds the struggle to forge an identity in a chaotic and often harsh environment."

Depop drama and tiny tennis skirts: the hidden problems with ‘sustainable’ fashion

There has never before been a time where alternatives to fast fashion have been so prevalent in debates about climate change and sustainability. Terrifying...

Archival fashion is having a renaissance – but is it here to stay?

And really, where else is there for a fashion enthusiast to turn other than to the past?

It was All a Dream: Escapism and Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

Dreams seem to straddle this boundary between fiction and reality, often informed by real life or perhaps made to help us cope with it.

Review: Simulacrum

Written and directed by Helena Aeberli and Riana Modi, Simulacrum is the first play on the Oxford drama scene specifically designed for online production,...

Who’s who: Ai Weiwei

But the deserted building in Chaoyang was no criminal lair—it was an art studio. And the man arrested at the airport, far from being a hardened felon, was Ai Weiwei: filmmaker, visual artist, and one of the most outspoken political dissidents in China.

All I Want for Oxmas…

When the crystal ball was dusted off in January 2020, The Atlantic predicted that the next decade would “look very different from what most people expect.” Little did we know how true that statement would be.

La vita davanti a sé: Sex, death and Sophia Loren

Long time, no see! Sophia Loren, Italian star of ‘60s classics such as 1963's Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and 1964's Marriage Italian Style, commands...

The HAPPIEST SEASON to be queer

With Christmas comes family and with family comes movies. It’s that time to cuddle up cosy on the sofa and watch yet another Reese...

Making Queer Cinema history: Victim (1961)

"‘Victim’ illuminates an important moment in the history of LGBTQ+ rights, primarily in normalising the existence of homosexuality and encouraging empathy."

Smell The Damn Roses

It’s a cold November morning in Oxford, and due to the national lockdown, I, like many others, am desperately trying to find ways to...

Review: V-Card

"an immersive play of laughter, vulnerability and truth"

Follow us