Class of 2021: Meet the CSM grad using knitwear to show us his post-apocalyptic world
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
Drawing inspiration from the elements and his favourite childhood animation, Oscar Ouyang’s gutsy final collection, Wind, Current, Flow, uses knitwear to inform his futuristic world.
Filter by EMILY JANE SCOTT x CHECK-OUT
NAME OSCAR OUYANG
AGE 22
LOCATION London, England
COURSE BA Fashion Design with Knitwear
UNIVERSITY Central Saint Martins
STAR SIGN Sun Virgo, Moon Libra
DESCRIBE YOUR DEGREE IN THREE WORDS Competitive, freedom, self-driven.
Jeffrey Thomson: Hey Oscar, tell us about your final collection. What was the inspiration behind it?
Oscar Ouyang: My collection is named Wind, Current, Flow. The journey started with my all-time favourite childhood animation, Nausicca, the Valley of the Wind. The story is about a small village in the valley that survived [an apocalypse] from the airborne spores because the wind couldn’t reach them. I tried to create an imaginary world with futuristic beings and creatures wearing my knitwear. My signature graphical translucent knit tells the story with the print and the texture.
JT: How did you find your time at CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS?
OO: It’s a surreal experience to spend five years crafting just one thing. CSM creates a bubble that balances art and reality.
JT: Did you always know you wanted to study here? What was your journey to CSM like?
OO: I got the idea from my high school art teacher to go study fashion at Saint Martins. I have to admit I’ve always been quite lucky when it came to applying for CSM. I got into the foundation course, found which pathway I wanted to do, got into the BA, and now I’ve been accepted onto the MA.
JT: When looking back on your first project and now to your final collection, what springs to mind?
OO: I didn’t even know CSM had a fashion knit course until I attended the foundation. My first project was completely pattern cut, with zero texture. Now my final collection is all about knitwear, and I let my knit decide the silhouette.
JT: What’s the biggest misconception about studying fashion?
OO: That you’ll get employed or have a successful design career straight after your degree.
JT: If you could go back, would you have done anything different?
OO: I would probably take another internship instead of going back to the final year during the pandemic.
JT: What advice would you give to those thinking about studying fashion? Is a formal fashion education for everyone?
OO: You don’t necessarily need a formal fashion education to practice fashion. However art schools definitely provide you with a short cut to the industry.
JT: What’s your biggest fashion faux pas?
OO: Open toe heels.
JT: The best thing about studying in London?
OO: Tons of exhibition, tons of inspirations, and it’s so easy to collaborate and meet people.
JT: And the worst?
OO: Crazy expensive, traffic, rent, all with unpaid fashion internships and barely any employment.
JT: When you’re rushing towards a deadline, what keeps you going?
OO: The excitement of seeing the final outcome coming to life.
JT: And lastly, what does fashion mean to you?
OO: It is my life at this point. An interest that is too far in to quit.
See more from Check-Out’s Class of 2021 here.