A popular Liverpool designer loved for her unique fashions has been dressing women and girls across Liverpool and beyond for 30 years.
As a child in the 70s, Caroline Oakes, now 53, would be in awe of the glamourous outfits her big sisters would wear on nights out. Inspired by fashion and film around her, as a youngster she would beg her mum to make alterations to her clothes and get creative when trying to establish her own style.
After learning her craft on courses while at college as a teenager, Caroline found herself dressing Liverpool's clubbers heading to top venues like 051, The State, Cream and The Barcelona club in the 1990s. While she still creates designs for clubbers and festival-goers, in recent years Caroline's brand has continued to evolve with her clients and their age.
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Based in her studio on Newington off Renshaw Street, Caroline, from Aigburth, told the ECHO: "I come from a big family, I've got seven sisters so when I was a child in the 70s, I had older sisters who were like 17, 18, 19, 20. I really loved Saturday Night Fever and they were all going out dancing to Saturday Night Fever, wearing outfits that were a bit like Studio 54 style - so my love for fashion started when I was really young.
"When I was studying, I got Princes Trust Money and grants at the time to help me get machinery and get my workspace sorted. I started on Greatie Market and would go every Saturday, working in my studio through the week.
"And like any business, you learn from your customers, they also give you inspiration. Everyone was going out clubbing it and I was going out clubbing it.
"But before the club scene in the city centre, it was Quadrant Park. We were just getting a piece of plastic material, me and my friend, and making something mad like a pair of shorts or decimating a bra top and it went from that.
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"In Quadrant Park, people weren't getting glammed up then - it was denim shorts and a little bra top. You were just dancing all night in a rave.
But as it went more into the 90s, it went more dressy and girls were wanting little dresses and short skirts when they were wearing sky high shoes. I applied my style and my ideas into the clubwear that I loved."
Years on, Caroline still sees her designs on old Liverpool nightclub photos on social media. And a lot of her customers who have been with her since the 90s still have the dresses and outfits Caroline made them during the decade.
Today, Caroline's designs are versatile and she encourages customers to get a timeless fashion piece that they can wear again and again. She also works closely with her clients to design unique pieces and has reinvented her brand to appeal to women of different ages.
With a core group of customers in Merseyside, Caroline also has clients from Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and the US. It can take up to two weeks to make a design, but Caroline said her most popular design at the minute is her lace trouser suits, as well as her creation made with Missoni fabrics like kimonos and cardigans.
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Caroline said: "I find material that’s a bit different, so my clothes are like the high street but you're not going to see it on the high street. It’s not mass produced - it's high street level, but with a little bit of a difference to it.
"All of my customers are absolutely amazing. If three or four of them come in, we’re all talking amongst ourselves - they might not have met each other ever in their lives but they’ll chat and they’re friendly.
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"I'm celebrating 30 years which I cannot believe. It is like it was only yesterday I was at college. It's just crazy."
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