NIFTY knitwear maverick Mark Fast showed his AW17 collection at Freemason’s Hall during London Fashion Week, drowning the grand vestibule area in a jewel-tone haze. Returning from hiatus with a goal to adorn grand pieces of artful knit upon knock-out dresses and gowns, Fast gave the following distinct words to new designs, “From the deepest caves, up from the graves, bringing her soul into the light. The heartbeat of the dragon she did fight. Fire, coal, disintegration. A moment of love is her resurrection”.
The fiery passions of the Fast female erupted in the ebullient form of hot pink, orange and orchid knit roping the contours of the body. These gave rise to cunning cut-outs of skin or, going the whole hog, entire lengths of leg only covered by slinky strands of material.
While this showed Mark sticking to his strengths he wasn’t unsure about bringing about modern motifs in simpler shapes and softer baby blue blocks of colour. Nevertheless, every last piece sent down the runway was given dynamic verve with the rambunctious textures of feather inserts and ruffles of shaggy sheepskin. Come the finale there was no doubt the audience had been swept up in a sense of excitement encouraged by the strong showing of a designer who epitomises London as the fashion capital for designers who do their own thing entirely and succeed best when given the freedom to do so.
by Livia Feltham
Images courtesy of Mark Fast