Anrealage’s Kunihiko Morinaga is known for his often offbeat approach, and this season he veered into new territory with his “Object” collection.
Imagining the world 100 years from now, he designed a lineup to fit a range of three-dimensional shapes. These were not human forms, but indeed spheres, pyramids, tetrahedrons and a wealth of other Platonic solids with names little known outside the mathematician’s lexicon.
In his presentation venue they were covered in their unusual garb and seemingly held floating drone-like in the air by miniature propellers referencing popular Japanese cartoon character Doraemon. The designer has long been a fan, and it was just one of the collaborations of the season, featuring as a print on one look and inspiring several of the silhouettes. Guests were gifted headbands with rotating propellers to get them in the mood.
Technical difficulties meant the format was changed to a presentation, rather than a runway show, at the very last minute. Guests have come to expect the unexpected of Morinaga’s fashion week events, so the glitch was less apparent than it might have been for a more traditional label.
His models emerged wearing identical designs to the floating structures, each heading to stand next to a polyhedral twin.
A silver biker jacket that fitted a sphere to perfection had an edgy off-kilter feel on the human form. The straight lines of wide, brightly colored striped cottons made for boxy, loose-fitting silhouettes with sharp lines that contrasted with the curves of the human form.
A collaboration with Reebok made for padded football-like creations that were actually puffer jackets, while a spherical globe was a teaser for an upcoming collection with Italian label Herno.
Beneath Morinaga’s constant pushing of the technical boundaries of fashion and his evident intellectual joy in playing with his medium, there was also a celebration of inclusivity here; there were no sizes and no constraints on body shape. These were clothes that would fit anyone — providing they adhere to Anrealage’s singular esthetic.
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