Anrealage

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アンリアレイジ

White coats that glisten faint green and pink in the sunlight. Dresses in adjustable sizes. Anrealage designer Kunihiko Morinaga continues to release novel fashion designs that astonish people around the world.

Anrealage brand name comes from a neologism that combines “a real”, “unreal”, and “age”. It refers to Mr. Morinaga’s challenging attitude as he reexamines everyday living through dress production and recreates fashion based on his questions and discoveries.

What’s called a Ball Shirt features a fabric pattern that looks like a globe before it’s worn. However, when this shirt is put on, an attractive relaxed styling emerges. Characteristic design is based on “about face” reversal — totally opposite from normal conception. For example, while regular dress design starts from body shapes, Mr. Morinaga’s dress design originates from geometric forms like a globe. This may sound complex but the result is quite simple.

Mr. Morinaga relies on the concept “God is in the details.” For example, to make dresses in different colors, he incorporates alternative shades using cutting-edge photochromic dyestuff technology, and blends photochromic dye particles into threads and fabric with detailed Japanese craftsmanship. All his dresses are made in Japan, and his meticulous efforts to expand manufacturing expertise support Anrealage fashion.

He entered the world of fashion during his college years. In fact, however, Mr. Morinaga wasn’t studying fashion academically at that time. He comments on his past: “I became successful in making new dresses because I’m self-taught. I learned fashion without being limited by stereotyped concepts.” He maintains a challenging attitude toward existing Western fashion, which serves as a source of his philosophy. At the same time, he continues in his role of trailblazer on the new horizon of fashion.

ANREALAGE
http://www.anrealage.com/
Location: Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple

“Size” was the theme of the Summer 2014 Collection. Anrealage questioned the way prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) dresses offer predetermined fixed proportions, available in variable sizes.

By turning a dial (attached on the back), this dress starts shrinking. Pleats appear in the shoulder and waist areas, and this long one-piece changes from a below-knee-length garment into a one-piece minidress.

“Low” was the theme of the Autumn-Winter 2011 Collection. This design featured “low resolution” mosaic patterns. To emphasize digital clarity and sharp outlines without curves or diagonal lines, Anrealage employed the latest innovative technology such as laser cutting.

“Color” was the theme of the 2013 Autumn-Winter Collection. Through dresses that change from white to various color under the light, Anrealage proposed clothes that enable people to “dress and undress colors.”

“Circle, Triangle, Square” was the theme of the 2009 Early Summer Collection. Anrealage made a stir in the conventional fashion industry by a novel approach to making dresses from geometric shapes like a globe, three-sided pyramid, and cube, which are furthest from the shapes of human bodies.

The fashion design of Kunihiko Morinaga is drawing attention from all over the world. Examples were featured in a special exhibition held at the 21th Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. These included dresses worn by Lady Gaga.