Introducing genuine innovations in fashion is not impossible, but at times it can be hard, due to the relentless fashion rhythms that may not allow a designer to experiment enough with a technique, or to limited financial resources.
When it comes to menswear it can be even more tricky, especially when it comes to established fashion houses who may be intrigued by the idea of introducing changes, but may also be worried that more traditional consumers may not find them suitable to their tastes.
Silvia Venturini Fendi may have been wondering how to introduce such innovations for a while and she eventually found a way to do it – teaming up with a collaborator. After the LVMH Prize event last year, she contacted one of the finalists, Kunihiko Morinaga.
Morinaga is the creative mind behind Japanese brand Anrealage and he is known for his experiments revolving around lights and shadows, darkness, reflective fabrics, volumes and proportions and conceptual tailoring.
The designer also worked on coding static noise into textile patterns, while, as you may remember from a previous post, for his presentation at the LVMH Prize Morinaga looked at sustainable fashion, but also at photosensitive fabrics and photonic-crystal fibers.
Venturini Fendi, struck by Morinaga's photochromic garments in the LVMH prize presentation, featuring designs that changed colour when exposed to light and that included a white ensemble that could turn almost black and a white cardigan on which an Argyle pattern in colour materialised under the light, invited Morinaga to collaborate on Fendi's A/W 20 menswear collection.
The results of this collaboration were presented during the recent menswear shows in Milan with Morinaga fresh from Pitti Uomo in Florence, where he showcased a menswear capsule collection with Tokyo Knit, an association of 180 Japanese knitwear specialists, among them producers and dyers.
On Fendi's runway the themes of change and transformation were first applied to classic tailoring with gray wool jackets and coats turned inside out with the padded lining used as a decorative motif on the external part of the garment, almost to remind us that a well-constructed item looks good even inside out.
Pockets also went through an updating process, and were turned into a series of functional compartments for a variety of small objects and accessories, from credit cards to smartphone and earpods to prove that accessories could be integrated into garments.
In other cases coats and jackets went through a modular treatment with zippered panels (at times in different tones of flannel) that could be removed to shorten or lengthen the garment and create a coat and long or cropped jacket in a bolero-style.
The same process was applied to furs that were constructed with three layers of modular panels. Other transformative attempts included trousers that from the back looked like a skirt or textile "illusions" with shearling imitating cashmere and vice versa.
The designs were matched with thick soled boots in bold colours including blue and dark yellow, the trademark shade of the fashion house, and were accessorised by new versions of the Baguette and Peekaboo bags and by a series of pieces inspired by the packaging of the house. They included a soft napa drawstring bag based on shoe pouches and leather bags and small trunks that looked like paper shopping bags and boxes.
An oversized scarf and a large knitted bag, pieces that emphasised the craftsmanship aspect of the collection, called to mind Anrealage's latest collection in which Morinaga played with proportions, but the designs made in collaboration with the Japanese designer actually arrived at the end of the runway in the form of photochromatic outerwear and accessories.
Models wearing what looked like textured white coats and bags stopped along the runway and were exposed to UV lamps. From white the pieces mutated and turned Fendi yellow or generated an intricate pattern on a gray background (check these videos to see the effect in detail Download Fendi_Anrealage and Download Fendi_Anrealage_2).
The designs included in this collection have no fixed colour, their shade changes indeed according to the environment, the intensity of UV rays, season, and city. So the items, as highlighted by the press release, will turn lemon yellow in Tokyo, while they may assume a stronger nuance of yellow in Rome, reminding in this way of the trademark yellow of the fashion house, that's why Morinaga dubbed the runway in Milan the "Yellow Impact".
The material used for this collection is an advanced version of the one employed by Morinaga in his previous studies on photochromic fabrics: the material is the world's first "photochromic polyester," consisting in a polyester yarn by Fujibo and a special dye developed by Mitsui Chemicals.
The transformative effects weren't maybe as emotional as the ones you may see on Anrealage's womenswear runways and, not knowing the brand's previous collections, the audience didn't maybe react as expected, but the concept played well with the trademark colour of the brand and with the idea of garments that can reflect the environment surrounding them.
Will this yellow fever continue to haunt Kunihiko Morinaga also in the next season? Somehow you wish the collaboration will not stop here, but will be given time to develop: Anrealage may need Fendi's expertise to expand, while Fendi needs a beautiful mind that may help it transitioning into the future.
Fendi was born as a fur boutique, but the backlash against fur has already pushed it to look for alternatives. So what's next for Fendi, an augmented reality experience or a lenticular logo pattern in Anrealage style? Who knows, maybe with the help of Morinaga, in future Fendi will go from fur to high-tech fabrics.
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