Mark Fast AW11
Beats a black espresso; a David Koma-Holly Fulton double-shot is my fashionista wake-up call. There has been much talk at LFW of designers’ focus on the ‘best’ of what they do, reducing experimentalism in straitened times, and day four’s opening show was a clear message that London’s designers are savvy on their strengths (ergo, what their customer will love).
But this was a catwalk aside, as I nipped back to The LFW Daily hub to tie-up my Nazir Mahzar AW11 report, and also to research an article on super-cute, Rob Ryan-esque paper eyelashes by Paperself, which have had the fash pack * gasps * queuing to trial. The Daily’s fab photographer, Shaniqwa Jarvis, has been dispatched to grab a pic of the peacock-eyed rep to accompany it.
Filed by lunchtime (another M&S affair, which I never tire of, yum), I sneak out for Michael van der Ham, a designer at the vanguard of fashion’s ‘bricolage’ moment of combinations of sometimes oppositional textures (from chiffon to chunky knits). And then more research and inky-fingered penwork before Mark Fast, who I am reliably informed is again using ‘plus-sized’ models by my backstage mole.
A curvaceous beauty in a ultra-short knit dress and fur hat steps out, counterbalanced by a rake thin type in very little, emphasising her jutting bones, later in the show. I decide to abandon capturing either on film; attempts at photography distract me from note-taking (overheard: journos drawing straws for who would snap/tweet and who would take notes!) The same model will later cause a minor furore in the press, despite the fact that the majority of models this season are looking more healthy. I wonder if Fast is being deliberately provocative, or simply presenting his spectrum beauty, a la the All Walks initiative – yet another shot of brain adrenalin to close my day.
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