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Mark Fast, I heart you!
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September 21st, 2009Life Candy
I love fashion, but as a girl who works voluptuous curves, London Fashion Week sometimes bores me.
There, I said it.
Stick-thin model after stick-thin model take to the catwalks and while I can appreciate the awesome creativity of the designers, I’m never inspired to want to work an outfit worn by a size zero* model.Enter: Mark Fast.
Mark Fast has been causing quite the stir at London Fashion Week by daring to use ‘plus size’ models in his catwalk shows, filling out the body con dresses in a way that dresses should be filled, like a silver-screen goddess.
For sure, he had the obligatory size zero lovelies, but he also included curvy size 12 and 14 girls in his catwalk show, who worked their fabulous female form in Mark’s very unforgiving creations – hurrah! While size 12 and 14 is nothing but fabulous in my world, some of the fashion elite were ‘disgusted’ and Mark’s stylist, who has obviously never had to dress a real woman before, threw a complete diva-like strop and walked out.
Now, I’m media savvy enough to know that this could be a major PR stunt by Mister Fast but even if it is, so what? I want to know what I would look like in those clothes, not how great they look on a hanger. My partner in sass, and lingerie designer, Miss Aimee however, disagrees.
“…I find this PR hoo-hah a little boring. I don’t even think it’s about fashion anymore – fashion is the art of clothing, the art of sculpting a fabric over the body, to enhance or distort, to make people love or retort. Fashion is about an emotional connection to a mood or a feeling that’s then encapsulated by textures and colour and, best of all, imagination. Which is clearly misunderstood, by the general media.
It isn’t about the models, but as the whole world is now consumed by celebrity and fame, models are now falling foul of that – we had the token ‘body’ like Elle Macpherson, the ‘heroin chic’ of Jodie Kidd and the ‘big girl’ of Sophie Dahl. And that puts an enormous amount of pressure on not only that model but society and WOMEN  too. Yes, it’s unhealthy to be a skinny Minnie if you’re surviving by eating tissue for meals, but equally it’s unhealthy to have token ‘big girls’ just for the sake of it. London Fashion Week is about fashion, let’s keep it that way…”
I guess if I were to work in the fashion industry like Miss Aimee, I might have a different opinion, but I don’t, I’m a size 14+ curvy girl who wants to consume fashion in the same way that her size 6 and 8 gal-pals are able to, and I want to see my shape and size represented, not only on the catwalk, but in magazines and on billboards too.
Amanda May, managing director for the Canadian designer, Mark Fast said there had been ”creative differences” with regards to the casting of the three larger models. But she said: “We’re glad we stuck to our vision. We wanted women to know that they don’t have to be a size zero to wear a Mark Fast dress. In fact, curvier women can look even better in one.”
Mark Fast, I salute you, sir!
FYI: I’m not size zero-ist, I’m just NOT a size zero – and personally, I thank the goddess girls for that.
What do you think?
7 Responses to “Mark Fast, I heart you!”
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I can see both sides of the argument, but I don’t think you have to have one without the other. If fashion is all about the fabric and clothing designs, then it shouldn’t matter what size the women are and it makes sense that women of all shapes and sizes are represented because that’s reality. And shouldn’t art imitate life (or something like that)? I’m with you on your salute to Mark Fast! I might be a zero, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see all sizes represented on a runway! Way to go, Fast!
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lisa
Miss PP – you’re totes right, I want to see ALL girls represented on the catwalk – I don’t want to see a size 16 girl squeezed into something designed for a size 4 girl – that’s just silly, but I do want to see a size 16 girl working something a size 16 girl will look hot in…I love fashion and just don’t think it should exclusively be for girls under a size 8…
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The problem with Fashion is that it’s half art, half massive mass market consumer business.
If it was all art the size of the model wouldn’t matter as the focus would be on what the designer had created, if it was all business then designs would be made for what real women are like, instead we’re stuck somewhere in the middle and it’s all tangled up with body fascism, health and self respect
I salute Mark Fast for sticking to his guns, both as a designer and an artist and sending normal size models down his runway, despite what other members of his team said.
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I agree with you! I don’t see how throwing “token big girls” in is dangerous at all. Especially because, hello, they aren’t big at all…they’re average sized! And the garments still look amazing on them!
I think this hoo-hah about runway being about “fashion” and all is a load of crap, no offense to your friend. If a garment is truly well designed, it will make anyone look amazing – and besides that, if you put a gorgeous curvy girl in a gorgeous garment, you’re going to have a breathtaking effect. Not to mention, I think it’s kind of silly that the designs are so small. Designing for a straight up and down figure is a lot easier than designing for someone with serious curves, speaking as someone who’s had to sew for both figures. I’m just sayin’!
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Actually, half of my commentary was left out of this article-
Yes, it is unhealthy to be a skinny Minnie if you are surviving by eating tissue for meals, but equally it is unhealthy to have token ‘big girls’ just for the sake of it. I don’t even think it needs to be about catwalk-it needs to be embraced by the general media too, as well as the pop and film industry. A model is a hanger for clothing but an actress can speak words, a pop singer sings obviously, and these are the ones that are damaging-if anything they are more a threat to young girls as they are more endorsed as figures to aim towards. I will admit it is slightly refreshing to see another designer using a 12+ model on the catwalk, as this means there is room for gradual change where we get to a place where there is balance, but fashion week is for buyers consumption. It is articles like this that bring in a negative perspective, which is a shame as it is 25 years of London Fashion Week and it should be greatly celebrated by all.
Also, it is allot harder to design, pattern cut and sew for curves which is why it has taken so long for mass markets to start making fashionable garments-and on a catwalk they dont have time in the space of two monthes which is production to pattern cut for this so that it fits ‘right’. Admittedly it is easier to do all for a straight up and down figure but it is also cheaper and easier which is why many stick to this. Also, fashion week is for buyers-you wont get joe public at fashion week, and the designer wants the CLOTHES to be looked at, not the model.
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[...] Mark Fast, I heart you! at the Sassy Minx – Mark Fast’s show at LFW got a lot of media coverage for using “big girls” (a UK size 10-12, which I think roughly translates to a US 6-8…still very slim!) as models. It drew ire from a lot of people, many of whom obviously think fashion is only for thin people. Pfft. I think the models looked fabulous and it put a big smile on my face when I saw those pictures! [...]
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Mark Fast: “It did surprise me. Those women are beautiful”. http://www.morecanadian.com/2009/09/canadian-knitter-mark-fast/
