Since its debut, “ANREALAGE” continues to fascinate audiences by constructing a unique worldview with a logical approach and attention to detail. After the brand’s first fashion show held at Tokyo Tower, they moved from Tokyo to Paris in 2014, and became a hot topic when they were suddenly added to the official schedule for their first time participating in Paris Fashion Week. Recently the label has won accolades for creations that fuse fashion and technology, such as a collaboration with the animated movie “Belle”-The Dragon and the Freckled Princess-, digital distribution using video data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and participation in Metaverse Fashion Week, all of which have served to establish it a unique position.
In August of this year, ANREALAGE held an anniversary collection to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its establishment as part of the Rakuten project “by R”, which supports Japanese designer brands. We caught up with the designer Kunihiko Morinaga, after he had just presented a physical show for the first time in about two years.
Can you explain what the essence of the brand is?アンリアレイジらしさ"とは？あらためて教えてください
I like to express, through clothing design, the little things that we overlook during
day-to-day life. That’s the guiding principle of the brand that has never changed. Based on the concept of “God lies in the details”, I always try to see how far I can get people to focus their attention on details that others do not notice.
Tell us your thoughts on the 20th Anniversary Collection A&Z that was held recently in Tokyo東京で20th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION "A&Z"を開催されました。今回のコレクションに対する想いとは？
Due to the spread of the coronavirus, I was physically unable to go to Paris, so I have been presenting in digital form as a new means of expression for the past four seasons. In September of this year, at Paris Fashion Week, we were finally able to hold a physical show. In addition, as it coincided with our 20th anniversary, we wanted to show in Tokyo the fusion of the digital technology we have cultivated so far and the new physical forms that we have come up with.
This show is a fusion of the physical (everyday) and the digital (extraordinary), which seems in keeping with your brand philosophy今回のショーは、フィジカル(日常)とデジタル(非日常)が融合する、まさにアンリアレイジと言える内容となりましたね
Along with the expression of digital technology, we have placed great importance on our patchworks, which represent an analog worldview. The brand’s original landscape of delicate craftsmanship, which requires time and effort, is the complete opposite of digital craftsmanship, so there is a very slight difference in the way one enters the process, but the fact that ANREALAGE can utilize both of these facets is one of our strengths.
You could feel this through the show演出面では特にその意識を感じました
Yes, that’s right. In the first half of the collection, we showed the latest four seasons of the digital collections that were shown since the Corona disaster started, and in the middle, we performed a video production that rewinds the time to the beginning of the show. When the hands of the clock begin to move again, the same world begins again, but what appears there is another world line of patchwork that we have continued for 20 years since our debut. It expresses a story just like a parallel world.
You presented a physical show titled "A&Z" for the first time in two years in Paris. There were some commonalities between the show held in Paris and the one staged in Tokyo. What was the intention behind this?パリでは約2年ぶりとなるフィジカルショー"A&Z"を披露されました。東京とパリ、互いに共通する部分も見られましたがその意図するところとは？
This time, I went with the idea of completing one collection in Tokyo and Paris. The title “A&Z”, which is opposite in the alphabetical order but actually they are next to each other, is the main focus of the collection. It is the same with physical and digital, but it expresses a world without borders by “patchworking” things with contrasting characteristics such as Paris and Tokyo, real and digital, as well as the front and back of clothes.
In Paris, the physical show and streaming distribution were held at the same time, showing two worlds in parallel like two sides of a coin.パリではフィジカルショーとストリーミング配信を同時に進行して、コインの"表と裏"のように二つの世界を並行してみせましたね
In Tokyo, we replaced the digital with the physical, and in Paris, we did it the other way around, so I was conscious of a mechanism that would give a different look when the physical was streamed.
Similar to digital distribution, you are also focusing on creations that use cutting-edge technology such as NFTs (non-fungible tokens). What sparked your interest in them?デジタル配信同様、NFT（非代替性トークン）など最先端のテクノロジーを用いたクリエーションにも力を入れていますね。興味を持つきっかけとは？
I’ve had hints of that in my head all along. Drafting clothes based on data, doing virtual fittings, and putting on avatars for a fashion show. And it is a vague vision of the future where those clothes exist in real life. The extraordinary reality that I thought would be 10 years from now suddenly appeared in front of me as a reality due to the coronavirus, so I decided to make a change.
I have the impression that the image of ANREALAGE = technology has permeated, such as making clothes in 3D and using the latest tech materials.3Dで洋服を作ったり最新のテック素材を用いるなど、アンリアレイジ＝テクノロジーというイメージも浸透してきた印象ですね
Especially after we moved our shows to Paris, we needed to clarify what we wanted to express with what weapons in the spiritual home of fashion. If we don’t use things that have not yet been adopted by other brands from all over the world, we’ll soon be buried. If you don’t have a weapon, you can’t even win against a powerful enemy.
With lifestyles and values diversifying and the values required of fashion changing, what do you think fashion should become in the future?ライフスタイルや価値観が多様化しファッションに求められる役割も変化するいま、森永さんの考えるこれからのファッションのあり方とは？
This “A&Z” collection and the brand name “Anrealage” are similar, but I think that the presence of “&” in between the opposite worlds is very important. Originally, I started making clothes from a personal point of view, just making the things that I wanted to make, but now I often think about fashion as a role that “connects” something. Fashion has a role to connect, such as connecting genders, connecting generations and connecting people who enjoy fashion in the real world and the digital world.
What generation are you conscious of?森永さんが意識している世代というのは？
After the Generation Z, the Generation is interesting. Although they are still in their childhood, they are already an advanced digital native whose digital communication is superior to those of older generations. Another feature is that the clothes you wear in real life and the clothes you wear on social media and on digital are becoming the same and I feel that is sort of a threat.
Please tell us about the events and things that you are currently worried about.現在気になっている事象や事柄を教えてください
Recently, the number of apps that are available has increased and it has become a hot topic, but I am very interested in image-generation AI. For example, if you enter keywords such as “Kunihiko Morinaga” and “patchwork clothes of the future” on the app, the AI will automatically generate a design that is close to the image of the entered words. It’s interesting because you can create something that looks quite realistic.
Lastly, please tell us your thoughts on "by R".最後に「by R」についての感想をお願いします
It is thanks to this “by R” that we could fuss the digital and physical in this collection. We are a brand that has put our lives on the line for fashion shows, so we are deeply moved to have the opportunity to hold a show in Tokyo. After all, ANREALAGE has been supported by so many people in Tokyo, so I was happy that a lot of people came to see us. I want to do it again in Tokyo in a few years.
