Paris Fashion Week SS24: Anrealage shines with luminous technology

For Anrealage’s spring/summer 2024 collection, which relied on special fabrics that change colour thanks to photochromy, Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga sent out the message of futuristic fashion in what was the precise characteristic of a creative approach.

The show for Anrealage’s SS24 collection, held at the Yoyo (Palais de Tokyo) during Paris Fashion Week, began with a reinterpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s baroque “Air on the G String”. A model advanced in the half-light, dressed in a white bodysuit and trousers, overhung by a transparent plastic bodysuit and skirt, with volume reminiscent of giant bubble wrap, and ribbed with yellow, orange and blue colours.

Under the effect of ultraviolet light, the silhouette lit up: the bodysuit, made from Fairtrade-labelled cotton and developed with Toyota Tsusho Inc, was adorned with miniature AZ logos, like the chromatophore cells of chameleons; the PVC adopted the colours of the veins. This spectacular effect is the result of a photochromic technology called Anvisual, patented by the Japanese brand.

A succession of multicoloured looks of an unreal age (for Anrealage)

Experts would recognise a technique already presented last season, except that this time, according to the press release, Morinaga developed an exclusive, environmentally-friendly photochromic PVC made from new-generation plasticisers that are phthalate-free (chemical substances used in plastics to soften them and increase their flexibility) and harmless to health.

Intellectually, Morinaga drew on the concept of Umwelt, which states that although organisms share the same environment, they can nevertheless experience different “own worlds”. Beyond its technological prowess, this fashion show is an ode to the right to be different. A universe that embodies the philosophical parable of “Existence” and “Nonexistence” which coexists in all things.