fashion
BODY LANGUAGE
Designer Mark Fast swears he haD no iDea putting plus-sizeD MoDels on his spring runway woulD attract the ire oF his show stylist, the attention oF the worlD Fashion press, anD the aDMiration oF woMen everywhere
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Photography courtesy Catwalking
What does it take to get effusive praise from the fashion press these days? A skillful approach, a strongly visible aesthetic, and, it seems, a bit of old-fashioned feather ruffling. At least that was the magic recipe for 28-year-old Mark Fast. Held during the 25th annual London Fashion Week last fall, the young designer’s third show saw a series of body-con knit dresses sent down the runway. Itchy woolens these were not. Brief, cobweb-strap cocktail numbers came trimmed with a smattering of mille-feuille leather frills or the glimmer of Swarovski crystals. Pencil skirts in elastomeric yarns seemed spun out of filmy, futuristic mesh. Noir peekaboo gowns carved the body into a stylized series of negative and positive spaces. And upping the wow factor even more were the models, which included not only traditional waifs, but also voluptuous, size-10 stunners—Fast’s lastminute casting decision. Almost overnight, his cult status was solidified. Gossipmongers pounced on the rumors that his stylist had quit in a haughty huff over the change of plan, while the body-conscious masses applauded Fast and all but adopted him as their poster child for model reform. London trendsetters were soon sporting his cobwebby tights, doled out at the show. Browns and 10 Corso Como placed their orders. And Topshop—a sponsor of his catwalk show—sealed the deal on a collaboration. Despite all the fuss, however, there is little of the provocative enfant terrible to be found in Fast: instead, the soft-spoken Canadian admits to dabbling in goth as a youth and recounts his country-mouse, Winnipeg-to-London experience with bemused gratitude. Of his so-called controversial show, he says, with a genuine note of surprise, “I had no idea it would cause such a reaction. I just thought it would be wonderful to see the clothes on a variety of bodies, to make them seem more personal and less intimidating.” And the stylist brouhaha? Seemingly just a simple disagreement. “We decided to replace the stylist with someone who was more enthusiastic about all the girls Mark wanted to use,” notes his managing director, Amanda May. “These kinds of team changes over creative differences happen all the time in our industry.” What pervades Fast’s work is not feisty rebellion but a feeling of quiet sensitivity. It turns up in everything from his inspirations (brooding Francis Bacon works, gossamer dragonfly wings, and the decadence of ancient Egypt), to his aesthetic (romantic severity, as he calls it), to his choice of primary materials. “I’ve always liked working with knits because it’s the closest you can get to the body,” he explains. Fast acquired his purling skills at Central Saint Martins; during a stint at Bora Aksu; alongside Alber Elbaz; and, even more recently, by studying antique machinery at a German hosiery museum. “I’ve always viewed knits as more like hosiery than a fabric,” he explains. In fact, Fast’s separates—which are hand-knit in England and Scotland then pieced together by a team of eight in his Hackney studio—do amount to artful body stockings, and suggest a seamless, slip-on approach to dressing that manages to nail the tricky trifecta of today’s design goals: easy, modern, and faintly carnal. This zeitgeist appeal will be even easier to see once FASTER, his new, wallet-friendly diffusion line of tights, leggings, slips, and ballerina-inspired pieces, hits shelves. As for his eagerly anticipated Topshop collection—which is slated to debut sometime this spring—Fast fans will have to stay perched on the edge of their seats. He was slowly and calmly working out the production details and overall mood at press time. “I’m taking my time with it,” Fast says, “just doing what feels right.” Jessica Main