Quite often men and women’s wear collections conceived by a designer for the same fashion house look similar and the same prints, palettes or moods are reiterated throughout both collections (think about Prada, for example, where also the set is reused for two different shows).
However, Kunihiko Morinaga, known for his technologically innovative women's wear shows where magical transformations occur with garments changing colors on the models' bodies, took a different approach for his inaugural menswear collection.
Unveiled in mid-March during Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo, the debut of Anrealage Homme took place on the circular upper floor of the Telecom Center Building in Tokyo Bay.
Departing from high-tech experiments and innovative fabrics, Morinaga left behind the Doraemon floating balloons from his A/W 24 collection showcased in Paris in early March.
The theme of this collection seemed to revolve around craftsmanship, as evidenced by the opening suit adorned with pink buttons and fuchsia-traced pockets. This wasn't about Barbie pink, though, but it was a more subtle reference.
Physically, pink doesn't exist as a single wavelength of light in the visible spectrum like red, blue, or green. Instead, it's perceived when the red and blue cones in our eyes are stimulated simultaneously, with less input from green, creating an illusion of pink. So, in a sense, pink exists as a perceptual phenomenon rather than a single, distinct color in the spectrum.
This illusion created by the brain was one of the themes of the collection that included quite a few trompe l'oeil knitted pieces, from duffel coats to varsity and souvenir jackets, and sweaters with intarsia that evoked schoolboy uniforms. This trompe l'oeil effect and this duality between illusions and reality was replicated in the kilts and pencil skirts that, when the models turned around, revealed to be knee-length shorts.
In some designs, in their colors and imaginative knitted motifs, you could detect Harajuku styles from the early 2000s, something that contrasted with the formal Chanel-like suits with details remade using buttons.
Morinaga also explored themes of transformation and mutability using elements that could be buttoned or unbuttoned, appliquéd on headdresses and jackets (a collaboration with emerging brand Nori Enomoto).
Two looks connected the collection to the previous A/W 24 women's wear collection: those created in collaboration with Reebok that paid homage to the Instapump Fury 94 sneaker.
For those unfamiliar with Morinaga's work, this collection may seem like a departure from his women's wear, but it actually marks a return to his roots. This was the designer setting on a journey in search of lost time, and creating new designs that are shadows, almost incarnations of his original fashion landscape.
When he first launched Anrealage in 2003 at the age of 23, Morinaga demonstrated his devotion to fashion through designs incorporating buttons and patchwork techniques, elaborate creations that served as acts of faith to fashion itself (Morinaga tried to inject back this sense of devotion in this collection, a feeling strengthened by a new choral version of a soundtrack by Ippei Sugihara from one of his previous shows).
The last twenty years dramatically changed Morinaga bringing him towards an entirely new direction, something not completely understood by many who still see as impractical (or unwearable) some of his more experimental designs integrating color-changing fabrics.
Anrealage Homme re-shifts therefore the discourse onto the idea of crafts and artisanal techniques, offering textile research, but also an alternative to technology and a new option to Morinaga's consumers through a genderless vision that embodies a quirky sense of fun. Wile this is marketed as menswear, many women will indeed find some of the items in the collection desirable.
By stepping back into the past, Morinaga willingly interrupted his experiments in futuristic design to recover his identity and his soul, and wonder where he would be if he had followed those inspirations rather than his high-tech inclinations.
This journey to the past through creation assumes a circular movement, not driven by nostalgia but by a desire to see this vision of the past coexisting with his present creations.
While this collection brings challenges, as Morinaga faces a heavier workload, and sets high expectations for future collections, it could be an interesting parable for young designers and fashion design students. It teaches us indeed that in life you can only go forward, you can only live in the present and walk towards the future; yet in fashion you can bring back the past into the present and reinterpret the point where you started, seeing it anew with fresh eyes and reinventing it with unwavering dedication.
Comments