FASHION Magazine

Friday

The first shows in London were under-attended due to the tornado in New York, but in London the weather’s fine and after a restful night at the May Fair Hotel and a lovely car ride with my assigned driver for the week (thanks, British Fashion Council!), I started the day at the Bora Aksu show. (Loved the ant-trail-printed tights. Wonder if—hoping—those will be produced?)

Big congrats to Victoria’s Secret model Doutzen Kroes who is pregnant with her first child. We’re already expecting to be wowed by her post-baby bod. [The Cut]

The London Fashion Week schedule has just been released: after two seasons in Paris, Brit designer Giles Deacon will be presenting on home turf, along with LFW newbies Acne. The usual slew of Canadians are on the list as well, including Mark Fast, Todd Lynn, Jean Pierre Braganza and Erdem. London Fashion Week starts September 17.

Though the installation has been in place since Friday, last night was the official opening party for Mark Fast‘s “The Ascension of Beauty” piece for Toronto’s Luminato arts festival. Fast uses Brookfield Place as a giant knitting machine, looping white ropes through the soaring Allen Lambert Galleria, culminating in a tiered knit dress inspired by […]

The post Video: Mark Fast’s “The Ascension of Beauty” appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

The house of Alexander McQueen is considering suing Cadbury for using an image of their 2006 hologram of Kate Moss in their ads. The question is, why would Kate Moss make us want to buy chocolate? [Racked]

First, he won Swarovski Accessories Designer of the Year at the CFDA‘s, and now Alexander Wang‘s got himself a new New York apartment. The Tribeca one bedroom was previously owned by former New York Times Style editor Holly Brubach, and cost him a modest $2 million. All in all, a good week for Alex. [New York Observer]

Mark Fast is sitting in a chair looking up….way up…at the magnificent white arches of the Allen Lambert Galleria in Toronto’s Brookfield Place. A team of men in hard hats is uncoiling 2 km of thick white rope. Two off-duty window washers are scampering across the lofty beams, rigging the rope according to drawings that are being studied on the ground below. When they are finished, a series of intersecting loops will descend to a human-sized knit dress, creating the effect of a garment crafted by a six-storey high knitting machine.

“When I first walked into this building I thought, ‘this looks like a very large knitting machine,’ ” Fast explained of the soaring atrium, conceived by Spanish designer Santiago Calatrava. “It made me feel very small. I wanted to recreate that emotion.”

It’s a good day for Canadian fashion, The Bay has just announced its place as a partner in the National Association for the Development of the Fashion Arts (ANDAM) Fashion award. “Partnering with ANDAM is a huge stride for Canada as a fashion authority and resource,” said The Bay’s fashion director, Suzanne Timmins. The ANDAM Fashion award is the world’s largest international fashion prize. Two of this year’s finalists include Canadians Mark Fast and Calla Haynes. The competition is open to fashion designers of any nationality under the age of 40 who plan to show and develop their collections in France.

According to Forbes’ Highest Paid Model list, Brazilian beauty Gisele Bündchen rakes in more cash than any other model. Interestingly, the order of this year’s list is identical to last year’s. Coincidence or copy and paste? [The Cut]

News of the 2010 ANDAM Award nominees is coming out of Paris and two Canadian-born designers have made it on to a list of only six candidates. Knitwear superstar Mark Fast and print whiz Calla Haynes are both up for the 220,000 euro prize, the winner of which will be announced on June 28. The other nominees are Alexandre Vauthier, who’s worked with Thierry Mugler; one-time Lacroix couture director Bouchra Jarrar; Italian designer Francesco Scognamiglio and Turkish-born Hakaan Yildirim, who shows in London.

The work of four Canadian designers will be featured in a designer pop-up at an outlet mall outside of Oxford, England. The British Design Collective at Bicester Village outlet mall offers buyers the opportunity to pick up looks from Erdem, Mark Fast, Jean Pierre Braganza and Todd Lynn (as well as, you know, some British designers) at up to 50 per cent off. The pop-up opens March 31 and will be open for six weeks.

For argument’s sake, lets take these pieces from Mark Fast and Erdem that we found at full price on British retailer Browns’ website (brownsfashion.com). (Browns has no affiliation with the sale, nor do we know if these pieces will be available.) The pieces are, from clockwise from the top left corner, left, are £1,595, £985, £420 and £240. At the current rate of exchange that’s at total of CAD$4,910.

Let’s do some fashion math:

Karen Munnis is a London-based Canadian stylist who worked backstage on Mark Fast’s Fall 2010 show. Read on for her first-hand account of the action and some backstage shots.

Although preparation for fashion week happens months in advance, show day is always an exhilarating, albeit stressful, time for a designer. Saturday’s presentation of Canadian designer Mark Fast’s Fall 2010 collection on Saturday was no exception.

The fittings and casting at the Ten Manchester Street Hotel went well into the the night before the show (meaning 1 a.m.), the morning start is at a sensible 10 o’clock. Mark Fast arrives from his flat with a few underpinnings made at his atelier in North London. He’s met by stylist Daniela Agnelli to finalize the thirty looks to be shown at the Topshop venue later in the day. While the looks are being paired up with opaque tights and bespoke Christian Louboutin shoes–done in ruby red, burgundy, navy and tan knits to match the collection–breakfast is being ordered up by managing director Amanda May, who knows exactly what Fast likes to eat. “He’s my other husband!” she says.

London Fashion Week closed yesterday. Check out our gallery for recaps of Burberry Prorsum, Pringle of Scotland, Mark Fast, Erdem, Aquascutum and more.

The post Gallery: London Fashion Week appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Mark Fast showed his fall collection in London on Saturday. The live feed, didn’t work out, unfortunately, but we have the video now. Fast again populated his show with a few normal-sized models–including Crystal Renn–and showed a parade of his signature short, tight open work knits.

London-based Canadian designer Mark Fast will show his Fall 2010 collection on February 20 at 3:45 p.m. GMT (10:45 in Toronto and Montreal, 8:45 a.m. in Calgary, 7:45 a.m. in Vancouver) and we have the live stream here. Update, 11:14 a.m.: We’re told the show is running late but people are being seated. Check back […]

The post London: Catch the Mark Fast Fall 2010 live stream right here! appeared first on FASHION Magazine.