MultakaOxford and Cherwell Collective Collaborate for Sustainable Fashion Show

Strutting down our fashion runway this September, models showcased a micro collection of sustainable garments designed by a group of women from MultakaOxford. The volunteer fashion designers drew on their diverse experiences and skills to develop original designs for the show. The women expanded their fashion-making skills while relying on sustainable techniques and fabrics. 

It was all part of the UK’s Sustainable Fashion Week, a marketing campaign and event series to spread awareness of sustainable fashion. Cherwell Collective hosted the Oxfordshire hub for Sustainable Fashion Week in 2024.

The designers’ participation in our Re:Fashion show at Blenheim Palace on 24 September emerged from a collaboration between Cherwell Collective, MultakaOxford, and Oxford Brookes University. MultakaOxford brings communities together by sharing the rich knowledge and heritage of people from all over the world who have made their homes in Oxfordshire. Multaka means “meeting point” in Arabic. Launched initially to create a “home away from home” for forced migrants from Syria and Iraq, the organization quickly evolved and opened up to anyone.

As part of the recent collaboration, we hosted the Multaka designers in our WISH headquarters in Kidlington. The volunteers developed a range of unique designs to showcase on our Blenheim Palace runway.

We talked to the Multaka designers to learn about their experience of the design process and their time at WISH. Here’s what they told us.

Goli Experiences Freedom Through Design

Despite being nervous about starting, Goli felt welcomed into the project and enjoyed working in a team alongside others from different cultures. She appreciated the freedom involved in the project, which she had not had in previous fashion design work in her country.

“In my country, [I did] sewing, tailoring, fashion. But, very important to me in fashion is that I have freedom, [which] I don’t have in my country. This year is very good – I’m free. All of the amenities are available.

“When I entered here on the first day, I was very stressed. I did not think that they would accept me in this collection. And when I came here, I was very happy that they accepted me, with a very open and cheerful spirit.

“It was beautiful memories that we have here – that everyone works well with each other, and people can provide much better work by cooperating with each other. Especially [WISH Headquarters], with its friendly staff, gives us good motivation to work more.

I am grateful to all of them for keeping this collection going – [people] like us can participate in it and get to know many people from other countries with their moral and good culture.”

Islam Welcomes the Opportunity to Explore Fashion

Islam feels lucky to have had the chance to learn about sewing and fashion design, which she has always been interested in but never had the opportunity to study.

She told our interviewer, “I started as a volunteer with Multaka, talking about exhibitions, and I’m happy to spend my time here – I feel comfortable coming here.”

“When I was in my school, all the time fashion was on my mind, but in my country, we haven’t any chance to study this – [so] I feel lucky with this opportunity,” Islam said.  “I’m happy with my teacher, a brilliant teacher, and she helped me with the project – [I’ve learned] sewing.”

Sepy Has Used Collaboration To Improve Her English

The MultakaOxford and Cherwell Collective collaboration allowed Sepy to use her embroidery and design skills while improving her English communication. She found it enjoyable and made new friends.

“I think two months ago I came to this project. [Now] we are a team, and wanted to make some dresses for the fashion show. When I came, I knew some embroidery and a little bit of dress design.”

“Speaking with another language, it’s most important I think. Communicating is useful for me. Just having a good time with friends and new friends is nice – we have to do many things and it’s fun for me.

Arezu Experiences the Power of Teamwork and Design Freedom

Arezu enjoyed having freedom of action, which she had not experienced in previous fashion design work in her native country. She found it special to work together on a team and make friends with people from various cultures.

“I worked in my country for 21 years as a tailor and fashion designer. But, because I didn’t have freedom of action, I worked alone and worked for myself. Here I had good experiences.

“I really liked the freedom of action. I could implement any idea I liked, and the cooperation with the group… Also, I got to know kind and responsible people who spent a lot of time with us. Friendship and cooperation in a group and working together without any discomfort was very interesting and an experience for me. It was special – this memory will always remain for me.

“Thank you to this organisation that brought together people from every nation, that taught us the cooperation of the people from [different] countries together. I hope to God that this organisation will continue its work forever.”

Collaboration and Competition Inspire Maria and Build Cultural Understanding

Maria has enjoyed the opportunity to do something different from her everyday life, as well as the collaboration and competition between the different teams. The project has also helped Maria to improve her communication in English and to work with others from diverse cultures.

“A lady from Ukraine told me about this project, and it’s great because normally, people who come to the UK do not have an option to visit interesting places.

“The first day, we had a session about useful things – our teachers are great. We also look for ideas from the other girls and what they’re doing, but it’s a competition too. We’re on different teams. I like to compete.

“The principal idea has stayed with us from the first time. To be honest, it’s better than I imagined it, because I thought that maybe it will be a mess, because none of us is a dressmaker, but finally it’s not so bad, for people who are not dressmakers.

“For me, it’s like a club of girls, I can communicate with girls from different cultures – it’s like some kind of commune. Normally you’re at home, or at your job, you try to concentrate on your own life, but sometimes you need some inspiration to think about something different.

“It is also a way to better my British mentality. We communicate with English people, because our teachers are English in general, and it helps you to better understand British values and culture. In my case, it’s about mak[ing] myself better understood to other people. It’s not only about how to speak, it’s more about how to react.”

Cherwell Collective Honoured to Host This Collaboration

In our conversations, a few key themes emerged:

• The women participating enjoyed the opportunity to use their skills and passion for fashion and to freely express their creativity.

• They appreciated working with other individuals from different cultures and collaborating on designs together. They built friendships and shared experiences.

• The designers valued the opportunity to use their skills and acquire new skills in a supportive environment. They appreciated the guidance of a design tutor from Oxford Brookes University. Over the weeks, they described how their confidence grew.

• They developed understanding of the impact of fast fashion and how to repurpose and recycle materials to create new fashion. This is knowledge that they are now sharing in their own lives.

We felt honoured to have hosted MultakaOxford designers at our WISH building and were knocked out by the show-stopping set of designs that the team presented at Cherwell Collective’s Re: Fashion Show.  We are excited about where future collaborations can take us together.

  
You can watch a recap video of the sustainable fashion runway show, which features several of the Multaka volunteers’ designs.