Mark Fast spring/summer 2019 collection presentation for LFW

With sequins being a signature for Mark Fast, this year the designer reinvented them, evolving from the astonishing lilac gowns of last year to a style that transported the audience into the middle of the desert.

For SS19, Fast’s chosen theme was the dessert goddess, both a nymph and a predator, while his textured creations expressed at the same time elegance, fluidity and coarse geometry. The designer did not refrain from using vibrant, lively colours such as metallic green, yellow or fuchsia, which gave the collection a boost of femininity and elegance, but at the same time he offered an other-worldly feeling to his creations using crochet, meshes and beads that resembled the geometry of a snake’s scales.

Fast managed to capture the femme fatale, focusing on the feminine aspects of his garments by using delicate gold feathered fringes and ostrich feathers that swayed and undulated as the model’s walked, captivating the audience with what the designer describes as a “haze of a mirage”. No matter what material Fast uses for his pieces, from feathers to sequins that imitate the snakeskin, he succeeds in encapsulating the female body with an impressing and effortless sophistication.

 
The cut-out detail bandage dresses were complemented by voluminous hairstyles and vibrant shades of makeup, creating an Amazonian style that reminded us of a rough sensibility encountered only at the early shows of Alexander McQueen.

Mark Fast captured in his collection a unique representation of both feminine delicacy and the primal instinct of survival. The complex collection was inspired by Romanian sculptor Demétre Chiparus and Polish painter Wilhelm Kotarbiński as well as the Egyptian goddess of the Nile, Anuket.

Xenia Gherzan
Photos: Erol Birsen