Bluestocking Oxford

By Ava Doherty Pamela Anderson once remarked that “activism is sexy”. It is an arresting phrase, but it also raises an uncomfortable question: why should activism need to be sexy at all? Why must political commitment be translated into the language of attractiveness before audiences are willing to engage with it? The answer may lie […]

By Olivia Hurton In the debris of the post-war world the Ossie Clark label burst onto London’s 1960s fashion scene with a clear aspiration: to make young girls in the street as glamorous and uninhibited as their idols. A style was born that admiring designer Anna Sui has named the ‘rock star’s girlfriend’ look, made […]

By Maisie Corkhill Period drama fans have been through a lot in recent years. In 2022, Netflix helmed the Fleabag-ification of Persuasion, with Dakota Johnson’s Anne Elliot breaking the fourth wall to tell us, “He is a ten. I never trust a ten”. Even Autumn De Wilde’s pastel-coloured, highly stylised Emma (2020) had its detractors. […]

By Megan Phillips The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. The first line of Donna Tartt’s debut novel, The Secret History, has attracted readers since it was published in 1992. Combining the gothic sense of foreboding with […]