Mark Fast is a perennial LFW favourite, a hugely talented designer who never fails to impress or surprise his audience through his chosen medium of knitwear, always taking this mundane of crafts, and making it extraordinary. From the first cyber gothic look to come stomping down the catwalk, the thought that immediately sprang to mind was : “Only Mark Fast could pull off ‘goth’ knitwear”. And so it progressed, a series of intricate creations that called to mind the clubwear of the industrial cyber raves of 90’s Manhattan, what perhaps Missoni would come up with after dropping acid, with each model looking somewhere a cross between Morticia Adams (had she raided a teen clubkid Wednesday’s closet) and Nancy from The Craft.
This season Fast made a departure from the elaborate fringing and statement pieces (with one or two exceptions) and focused on a more simple silhouette of body con dresses running from mini to maxi which he then brings to life through his intricate knit patterns that exposed plenty of flesh, whilst exploring female sexuality through the use of suggestive, almost fetishistic strapping and banding. Colours ranged from vampish blacks and greys on the more seductive looks to first appear on the catwalk, then morphing into bright neon hued rave attire. The designer clearly had one woman in mind, and was dressing his Alice for all her adventures in Gothland. Matrix style accessories, patent leather combat boots, long gloves and round ‘Lennon’ sunglasses paired with Robert Smith’s wild nest of black hair completed Fast’s triumphant redux of 90’s alt pop culture that, as I mentioned before, only HE could have pulled off. This is not grunge as I’ve seen some comparisons being made, this is goth pure and simple, completely separate and also a fitting evolution of fashion’s current love affair with all things 90’s.
Photos: catwalking.com