MARK FAST's FASHION FAIL at adding "voluptuous models" to his runway-BIG TIME FAILURE!

1. Mark Fast's idea of glamour for the healthy voluptuous woman: Flashdance meets Matalan-YUCK!


What terrible clothing to showcase a voluptuous woman in!

And no, I'm not going to be a good sub and say "Oh at least he's doing something for 'curvy' models, blah , blah..." Those clothes are for very thin women and the models, while really healthy, look uncomfortable and ridiculous. An A+ for effort but a very big D-minus (pun intended) for the ultimate result. It is sad that finally, when healthy trim models, neither over or underweight, hit the runway that they are modelling such formless and unglamorous clothing. With less healthy looking celebs walking around half naked or in clothing with zero mystery, perhaps Mark Fast forgets that a voluptuous women is already sensual and does not need to be exposed to be sexy, much less elegant.


For starters, the are no cups to support the breasts on the vest (aka tank top) that the above model (Hayley Morely) in the middle is wearing and her nipple line is being forced to Antarctica. It's like putting Kate Moss into a G cup bra and sending her out in public with no shirt over herself and only a tattered Burberry shrug for symmetry.

All of the above necklines, make it impossible to wear a bra and will smash down the boobs-not a good look. The model Crystal Renn, on the far right, looks virtually flat chested which is not what she's celebrated for and undergarments should not be cutting the clothing off at the natural waist! Designers don't seem to know where the natural waist is these days. They either place it below the bust or an above the pubic bone. Gone are the days when clothing nipped in at the true waist and women looked womanly, now the tube torso and six pack reigns. Mainly Fast failed in his designs because the models don't look hour-glassy and symmetrical, they look squashed, hawkish and squarish.

2.Diana Dors (built along the lines Crystal Renn) shows what curvy styling is really all about.
Mark Fast needs to take a very long look at some vintage photos of June Wilkinson, Anita Ekberg, Mansfield and Sophia Loren and copy what they wore or at least start understanding a healthy trim voluptuous figure and how it differs from that of an underweight model. This grunge waify-matchgirl-in tatters- look flatters no one ESPECIALLY voluptuous women with breasts and hips!

Here is what Mark Fast needs to study like a hawk to get with the programme:

3. Diana Dors (above) aka The British Marilyn Monroe, wears a well constructed dress for day or night that can be worn off the shoulder yet the neckline and torso of the dress allows her to wear a strapless bra. Like Monroe and Bettie Page, Dors was not larger busted like Loren or Ekberg nor did she have the constantly corseted tiny waist of Jayne Mansfield, she simply had a great, healthy figure much like a more petite, hourglassier version of Crystal Renn's. A healthy, trim, curvaceous figure needs well constructed garments not stretchy 80's styling out of a Human League video.

Sophia Loren (above) wearing a classic ballgown in a cut that she'd have translated into many of her day as well as evening dresses during he 1950's; nipped in at the waist, full or pencil skirted and supported and bust accentuated (yet never cartoonish like Mansfield). Today this style might be called a "prom dress" by some but rarely are the "prom dresses" of today hitting at the true waist and rarely are they constructed well. A pink/floral day dress similar to the one Loren is wearing above was used to great effect in a Hanes add featuring an hourglassy Jennifer Love Hewitt and message boards buzzed with where to buy "that dress" but alas designers don't make em like that any more and it was a one off.



The stunning at any weight, Anita Ekberg (above) in a square cut brocade sheath evening dress. Once again, a cut that works for a voluptuous trim woman, both day and night but which is not that easy to find off the rack any more. Hayley Morely is built on a scale similar to a younger svelte Ekberg yet Fast does not seem to bestow upon her the rich and opulent wardrobe and designs that Ekberg rocked in the 50's and early 60's.


Here is one of my spring looks, this simply denim day dress with a full (not A-line) skirt has bust seaming and great support and I pair it with a fitted calico blouse, tanned legs and blue suede slides. Simple, clean, still curvy but not trashy and no weird lumpy bits. The dress has been worn so much that it may fall apart soon but what can I do? They don't make em like that any more; obviously and obliviously.