VIN + OMI x Multaka

On display until November 2026 

Ground Floor gallery

The dress on display is one of two garments that were created in a collaborative project bringing together MultakaOxford volunteer creatives, Oxford Brookes University students and fashion designers VIN + OMI. The project was facilitated by MultakaOxford and the Pitt Rivers Museum's Clothworkers' team, alongside workshops at the University led by project coordinator Amy Harris. Together, a shared studio environment was created which encouraged participants to explore sustainability and innovation in fashion, and how cloth has long functioned as a marker of identity, skill and community. Drawing on diverse experiences and cultural perspectives, from highly skilled makers to complete beginners, the group collectively produced two dresses for the VIN + OMI Dysphoriana catwalk show at London Fashion Week 2025.

The project integrated museum learning, inclusive design education and ethical fashion production, modelling an approach to contemporary craft grounded in collaboration, shared authorship and social impact. This was achieved by inspiring research visits to the textile collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum, followed by creative making sessions in the studio. Communally, the group contributed more than 100 hours of collaborative making to create both garments. At the heart of the process was the belief that making together can create connections between people. As one participant reflected, collaborative craft offered 'the best possibility to share skills, ideas and experiences about our own lives... to know more about each other, meet new people and discover new cultures'. Participants from different countries worked side by side, learning unfamiliar techniques, supporting each other and developing new confidence through the process. For some, the workshops provided a welcoming creative space to form friendships, listen to music together and discover common ground across different cultural backgrounds.

The garments themselves are made from recycled plastic-derived fabrics developed through VIN + OMI's UK clean-up initiatives. Appliqué flowers made from these materials were combined with repurposed garments to create new surfaces and forms, bringing together diverse craft approaches within a shared process of making, that reflects the environmental principles of the designers' practice.