By Jesse Scott
What does “WIND” look like? That was the guiding question for Kunihiko Morinaga in his Spring-Summer 2025 collection for Anrealage, which continued to push the boundaries of technology in fashion by introducing a revolutionary series of looks that inflated with the touch of a button.
High drama has been a given at an Anrealage show ever since Morinaga debuted his color-changing UV light-based collection three seasons ago. This season saw the imaginative avant-garde designer play with motion and volume instead of optics as symmetrical silhouettes flowered into voluminous form in mere seconds. Fittingly given the playful nature of the show and the airy forms that starred in it, a largely pastel color scheme of periwinkle blue, light green, and dusty pink dominated. The collection used Kyocera’s revolutionary FOREARTH inkjet printing technology. In alignment with Anrealage’s emphasis on sustainability, the process was completely water-free.
Practical Philosophy Underpins Theatrical Collection
Upon first look, the theatrical collection seemed conceptual at its core. But as Morinaga explained to the press, it was actually born as a scientific and profoundly practical solution to a common issue in the designer’s home Japan. As summers seemingly get more scorching each year, Morinaga has designed a versatile collection of garments that use internal air conditioning systems to cool wearers down whenever they desire. The pieces are woven from a specially designed airtight fabric that weighs, at maximum, 23 grams per square meter. Comprised of threads about one-third the thickness of a hair, they are essentially weightless to the touch, it is more breathable and ethereal than the most supple silk or linen. Made in collaboration with utilitarian fashion brand KUCHOFUKU, they contain embedded fans and can rapidly inflate into unexpected forms and volumes, for example wind socks or beachball-style balloons.
Anrealage Remains at the Forefront of Paris Fashion Week Innovation
For industry insiders, Kunhihiko Morinaga’s Anrealage is one of the absolute highlights on the Paris Fashion Week calendar. Season after season, it remains one of the of the most relentlessly innovative and technologically progressive brands in an age of increasing emphasis on synergies between science and fashion. Yet it is also a brand with a playful, personable, and indefatigably optimistic spirit. Once again, Morinaga impressed the world by introducing a new design concept for Spring-Summer 2025. By presenting it in a way that was thoroughly enjoyable, and, to quote the brand, “poetically bizarre,” he encapsulated the beautiful duality that makes Anrealage beloved by many.
