Very wide-legged pants, flared from the knee down, worn long so as to rest on top of the shoes. They used to have a very high turn-up. Their name comes from the Oxford University students who first wore them in…

Kirsten Owen (1969). Canadian model. Born in Montreal, she moved to Paris in the mid-1980s and was hired immediately by the Zoom agency, run by Gaby Wagner. She was recognised more for her sense of style than her beauty. Photographed…

Inspired by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Paul Poiret is credited with having launched the odalisque fashion style during a theme party he gave in his garden called One Thousand and One Nights. The fashion featured light, smooth fabrics, strong and vivid…

Cristina Ortiz (1952). Spanish designer. After a diploma from the Paris École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute couture in 1986, she worked for the Spanish department store El Corte Inglés. Following this, she worked with Enrica Massei and…

Italian couture label, founded in Frosinone in 1985 by Mauro Onori e Fernanda Verre. They design minimalist, simply cut evening dresses, mostly in black-and-white. They have been holding runway shows in Rome since July 1997.

Occhio di Pernice (Bird’s Eye). Fabric with a small pattern, similar to that of an actual partridge’s eye. This material has become a classic, used for men’s jackets and coats since the 1940s. Its dark surface is covered with small…

American brand established over a century ago, best known for its Bib Overall dungarees designed for farmers and railroad workers, and recognised for their quality and durability. The name comes from the Wisconsin town Oshkosh where the company was founded…

Lucy Orta(1966). Textile designer. Born in Birmingham, England, she lives in Paris, where she has been producing loungewear since 1991, using high-tech fabrics printed with slogans, symbols, and signs taken from a personal archive assembled with her husband, the Argentine…

Rick Owens (1961). American designer born in Ponteville, California. He studied painting at Otis Parsons for a brief period and later took a course in pattern cutting for mass produced garments. He had his debut in New York in 2002.…

A fresh and crisp fabric, taking its name from the French organdi. A sheer but resistant thin cotton muslin, it was used in the 1800s to bind books. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was still primarily…