Mark Fast s challenge for his first stand-alone show at London fashion week was brutally clear: How could he build an entire collection from his particular area of knitwear expertise, which is so defined…no, make that restricted?
His bizarre story line—a utopia destroyed by acid rain—couldn t offer much by way of inspiration, though perhaps Fast took its central notion of destruction and resurrection to heart when he combined his trademark open-stitch knits with sweeping swaths of fringe, thus giving something that is limited by its body-consciousness a whole new movement and openness. The designer s used fringing before, but it had a real allure when it swung in sunset shades off the hem of a fitted web of a dress in a peachy color. Still, it s never going to escape its showgirl associations. In fact, there were moments when Fast even seemed to be playing up that idea, so Vegas-ready were some of his outfits.
As far as the knits themselves went, he was after a new precision—less webby, more geometric—though his lattice of keyholes bared more flesh than ever. Even when he covered up, it was with inserts of see-through plastic (oddly parked at crotch level in one number). A collaboration with Swarovski produced dresses that limned the body with crystals. The showgirl-o-meter remained curiously unmoved by those, perhaps because they were nothing compared to the put-your-eye-out patent bras that accessorized the collection.
So did Mark pass the Fast challenge? The jury might be out for one more season.
