Now in his fourth season, Mark Fast is known best for dressing plus size models in skimpy knitwear and provoking stylists to walk out of his shows in protest.
He puts two fingers up to the fashion industry’s obsession with the skinny and shows us all that visible curves can look hot. And if you didn’t think knitwear could be sexy, think again.
It is Fast’s technique which is much more interesting than his choice of model: he uses special lyrca stitching for elasticity to knit intricate and delicate clothes which fit like a glove and veer more towards hosiery than knitwear. Fine and slinky and sculpted to the body’s contours, his pieces are a far cry from chunky Christmas jumpers.
And the industrious Canadian adds an endearing and personal touch to his work: he crafts every one of his designs by hand using his trusty old sewing machine. Fast’s clothing is versatile and textured and are not be confined to your winter wardrobe. Fast’s latest A/W show proved his obsession with texture and the human body at its most powerful, showcasing a mixture of flowing, skimpy, and layered dresses in varying colours.
Growing up in the vast Canadian wilderness, Fast moved to London to study his craft and completed both a BA and an MA at London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins, before going on to work for Bora Aksu and then collaborating with Stuart Vevers and Christian Loboutin.
With a current monopoly on knitwear design, we can’t wait to see what Fast comes up with for his next collection.
Words by April Welsh
