Review of Anrealage Spring 2021 Fashion Show
Don’t Leave Home Without It
Kunihiko Morinaga’s “Home” Collection Takes Cocooning To A Whole Other Level
By Dao Tran
A pyramid-shaped tent. Inside, a girl. All in white. The girl dreams. Of life. On the outside. The tent collapses. The girl arises. Twirls around in her full coat dress. On a grassy hillside in front of Mt. Fuji, a constellation of tent-like geometric shapes in bright neon colors have some zippers here, some ruffles there, even collars and sleeves… Their inhabitants wear ruched dresses and voluminous coats in corresponding colors…
Anrealage shows tickle the mind because Kunihiko Morinaga always has some tricks up his sleeve; this time, he had a few tents.
For this outing from his base in Tokyo, Morinaga explored the notion of home, now that we’re all spending that much more time at home, and the feeling of safety and protection that it provides. This collection gives us the possibility of dressing ourselves in it, by building it into the clothes.
And while the Craig Green x Moncler jackets look like they should transform into tents, these clothes actually do, and they don’t look like it.
Always on the forefront of technology, Morinaga developed a special textile by processing FLUTECT TECHNOLOGY antiviral fiber by Shikibo onto copper fiber by Aoreiru, to give a combination of antiviral and antibacterial protection. Furthermore, the patterns were 2 meters wide, in reference to social distancing guidelines. Boning gives the pieces structure, almost romantic in volume, but decidedly modern in the neon color palette. Through a sleight of hand (actually, just gathers and drawstrings), they lie flat when collapsed. Another fun trick is that they glow in the dark!
I can pass on the sculptural headdresses, which honestly look like decoration garlands at a party, but they apparently also double as lampshades, so you can make your dress-cum-tent even cozier. But those coats are totally covetable! When Trumpmageddon comes, I wouldn’t mind facing the apocalypse wearing one of these.