Anrealage Spring 2016

Bring your smartphones and be sure to use your flash. Those were the instructions on the Anrealage invitation for their show at the Palais de Tokyo yesterday. Guests entered the show venue greeted by trays of Dassai sake and found headphones resting on each seat to be worn during the show.

What was it all about? Designer Kunihiko Morianga’s theme was about reflections. Music from Takamasa Aoki boomed into headsets, the first look to walk the runway was a pleated black dress with a top that reflected the skirt, so that the top of the dress was in fact an upside down skirt. Shirts collars were reflected on each side of certain pieces to form coats. Even the accessories were mirror images—a leather bag was shown with the same leather bag attached and hanging from the bottom. Heels came on top of their flip images to form platform pumps, and the earrings had hooks that dangled from the bottom.

But that’s not all. The flashes from both the cameras and the lighting reflected pastel colored patterns on otherwise white garments, thanks to a reflective paint that is sometimes used in markers at construction sites. While all the looks were conceptual, mixed in with the avant-garde pieces were plenty of styles that more demure fashion enthusiasts will be able to get behind. The show notes read, “Reflect light, it gives a new light. Reflect reality, it makes a new reality.” Now that’s a positive message we believe everyone can get behind, especially on the first day of the final stretch of fashion month.