Designer unveils loose-stitched crochet gowns at LFW

Kanye West, centre left, alongside, from left, Sienna Miller, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Boutique owner and stylist Brix Smith-Start dubbed him the yarn alchemist. And today, Mark Fast lived up to that moniker with an accomplished show rich in texture and skill.Fast's favoured medium

- yarns of wool, silk, linen and cotton - has the potential to be limiting, but his depth of technique is such that his collections are not only versatile, but reach new levels of ingenuity every year.
This season saw loose-stitched crochet and macrame gowns, heavy with long fringing in gold silk yarn that brushed the floor as the models walked; citrus-toned mini dresses trimmed with tassels and gold beading; pale straw-toned slips worked in a loose-stitch linen yarn; micro-woven mesh maxis; pencil skirts - even knit swimwear.

The palette was pared back - golds, straw, black - or febrile, with vibrant hues of tropical orange and yellow Fast said were inspired by 'a mirage'.
I loved deftly woven slinky black dresses that were given volume at the hem with thousands of petals, creating a striking silhouette Fast says was based on a 'beautiful bird of paradise,' and those luxe fringed dresses that hung weighty with the yards of fringe.
Fast's catwalk calling card has become his use of curvaceous models (his stylist infamously walked out in a rage over his choice to use size 12 and 14 models in 2009), and here he did not disappoint.
Yes, most of the girls walking in the show had hip bones you could hang a towel on, but a couple - including Gwyneth, who has walked for Fast for many seasons - were bestowed with more curves than most.

In the front row, Eliza Doolittle, Sunday Girl and Zara Martin looked suitably impressed; stylist Grace Woodward called it 'extraordinary.'
Brix Smith-Start deemed it 'gorgeous'.
'I find the texture, what he does with yarn incredible,' she said. 'He's a yarn alchemist. His clothes are like walking sculpture - more than that, sculpture that enhances the human form.
So what's next for the yarn alchemist, world domination?
'No, dinner with my family,' Fast says. 'World domination can wait until tomorrow.'