“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”: For the Fall-Winter 2022-2023 season, Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon inspires a poetic, surrealistic spin on astronauts’ space suits for peace-seeking earthlings. Produced in partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and shot at the Advanced Facility for Space Exploration, the show film was livestreamed on the Paris Fashion Week Online platform.
“I continue to believe in a dreamlike world where living in space becomes the norm. Everyday life on the Moon will be a future reality,” says designer Kunihiko Morinaga.
 |
The film opens with a first step on the Moon in 2030, with the imprints of sneaker and boot styles created in collaboration with United Nude replicating those of the astronauts in the first moon landing in 1969.
Floating in one-sixth the gravity of planet Earth, models hop across a recreation of the lunar surface in optical-white, puffy garments, some literally filled with air, like giant shells that protect the body. Details such as circular necklines and armholes feature on revisited basics including Aran sweaters, denim jackets and trench coats, engineered for a borderless world where you can pop on a space helmet and fly to the Moon.
 |
Pushing its design ethos of turning wardrobe staples into enchanting, conceptual pieces, Anrealage blends signature patternmaking mastery with state-of-the-art technology. The pristine white volumes of blown-up jackets, heart-shaped skirts, A-line coats, and dresses with Peter Pan collars emit a soft glow, like the sunlit side of the Moon.
 |
Special, high-tech Aerogel materials originally developed by NASA and used in JAXA's spacesuits are sandwiched between quilted cotton and polyester blends on baby-doll dresses and coats or inserted into the inflated volumes of jumpsuits, MA-1 bombers, and varsity jackets. Designed to insulate against extreme temperatures, the ultra-lightweight material can protect against the cold down to -196°C.
-196°C.
 |
As the Sun goes down, four black dresses woven from optical fiber threads evoking liquid crystal displays flicker with generic textile patterns and peace messages, morphing from black and white to rainbow colors, their LED surfaces remotely controlled from a smartphone on planet Earth, some 380,000 km away. From the Moon, a model gazes at the Earthset which is reflected in her visor. The beauty of the Blue Planet shakes her heart.
 |
The film cuts to models dressed in soft and airy Earth-bound alter-egos of the looks walking on a sandy beach lit by moonlight, their proportions deflated by gravity. Large volumes drop from the shoulders of quilted dresses and coats cinched with belts or from the waistlines of slouchy pants and jumpsuits, creating a unique drape.
“One garment colors your life on both the Moon and on Earth,” adds Morinaga who, with the words of Armstrong in his heart, sends a message of peace for mankind and dreams of a fashion of the future. A visionary interplanetary wardrobe that travels from the Earth to the Moon and back.
© Anrealage
Ph: Masaya Tanaka
