Alison Boulton digs beneath the city's dreaming spires

Quaffing chilled Champagne among the beautiful, lissom young is a hazard of the job, but any distraction is welcome in the dark days of February – and I could be persuaded to do it again, anytime.

Gathered in Malmaison’s magnificent atrium, we were celebrating the launch of Oxford Fashion Week (March 3-9). This glamorous event – the sixth to be held in our beautiful city – is seeking fifty of our most striking young people over the age of sixteen to take part in a series of runway shows at a variety of locations around the city.

Events include a High Street show of affordable fashion to be held at the historic Varsity Club; a Lingerie Show at Malmaison in the Oxford Castle Quarter, and two shows, the Cosmopolitan and the Concept Shows, both in the sumptuous Randolph Hotel Ballroom.

“It can be the first step towards a career in fashion,” show stylist Gem Latimer, 22, told me. “Last year a volunteer modelled for us. This month she anticipates signing with a top London agency. Her future looks very promising.”

Even if being a professional model is not on your bucket list, there are other attractions to taking part: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to get to know a whole lot of different people – and a great CV building experience,” Latimer said. A kind of FacebookCouture.

“We’ve all loved fashion since we were students’” Oxford Fashion Week (OFW) Director Carl Anglim said. “Style is about vision and confidence, not money – expressing yourself more daringly, taking chances.”

An Oxford University lawyer who now runs a consultancy business, Anglim is confident that this will be the best OFW yet. He expects the shows to host over a thousand fashionistas, top designers and international interest.

“Oxford’s a magical city, and fashion’s about dreams and wish fulfilment. Its historic backdrop is a perfect marriage of style and ideas. We all love beauty, and this is a perfect city to showcase it.”

The dramatic climax of OFW will take place above our heads, guarded by prison cells with original observation windows. The metal walkways, fine mesh grills and iron bars of Malmaison’s spot-lit atrium reflect its original use as part of Oxford Gaol.

Instead of the heavy crunch of warders boots, the walkways will sass and swirl to the choreographered beat of the Couture Show. High end fashion meets criminal underworld. Wicked!

“OFW is like all the fashion magazines you didn’t have time to read, brought to life before your eyes. It’s exciting, creative, and different. Rather than walking though a shop and seeing clothes on a rail, they’re re-interpreted by runway shows in a dramatic way, which will entertain and delight in equal measure,” Latimer said.

Open Model Casting, Saturday and Sunday, 2-5pm, Malmaison, Oxford