OXFORD Fashion Week ended where it began – at the heart of the Sheldonian Theatre.

The models were still wearing dramatic gowns and extravagant headdresses when Carl Anglim, who co-created the event in 2009, stepped on to the runway, seconds after the end of the Couture show.

Six years after the first Oxford Fashion Week took over the historical Broad Street building, he stunned the audience by announcing this year’s edition would be the last.

Oxford Fashion Studio, the company responsible for Oxford Fashion Week, has expanded outside of the city that gave it its name.

Mr Anglim, the director of the company, called the world a large place with many places to see.

With shows in New York City, London, Paris, Los Angeles and Houston, he and his team want to focus on expanding abroad.

The night itself had a cosmopolitan feel, with Hong-Kong-based designer Susanna Soo executing her first runway show in Europe. Her clothes appeared along those of local designers, such as Bicester’s Bianca Leach, 22.

Gene Soo, Mrs Soo’s husband of five years and the brand’s managing director, said: “We’ve never done a catwalk in Europe before.

“It’s great to be showing in Oxford. It’s our debut show in this part of the world and it is very exciting for us.

“I’ve heard advice before, like ‘you must show in Paris’ but I believe you should think outside the box. That’s why we’re open to initiatives like this.

“There’s no cookie-cutter model, no right or wrong way to do this.”

Even shop owner Ann Whorrall, whose Olivia May boutique is based in Oxford’s Little Clarendon Street, brought a worldly touch to the night.

As a buyer, she works with designers from France, Germany, Sweden and Japan and brings their designs to her local customers.

She said: “It’s about niche designers, someone who has a really good story that goes with the collection.”

Model Chloé Delanney, 20, who studies Spanish and Italian literature at Oxford University, talked about her second Oxford Fashion Week as a model in her native French.

She, along with the other models, had a fitting the day before and got there at 11am on the day for a briefing followed by a rehearsal. They discussed ways of entering and exiting the catwalk and how long each pose should be held.

“It sounds simple when you put it this way, but something always goes wrong,” she said.

She first came to the Sheldonian Theatre for her matriculation. “It’s magnificent,” she said. “It’s dramatic but not overbearing. It feels quite cosy.”

Some members of the public, too, had travelled from afar. Blogger Ariana Pierce, 25, from Orlando in Florida, was invited to Saturday’s shows and sat on the front row.

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“It’s been an awesome experience,” she said. “We were just talking about how everything is very historic here. It’s beautiful.”

Daniella Schutze, 20, who studies German at Oxford University, was the face of this year’s Oxford Fashion Week.

“It’s been incredible,” she said. “In my first year at university I was a bit of a hermit. I promised myself this year I would do other things than reading and writing essays. I would do it again.”

She may have to travel further away next time.