Pearly Kings, walking home in the rain, a chorus of choirboys, and a heady dose of nostalgia mixed with just a dash of melancholy. The soundtrack at Kunihiko Morinaga’s show for Anrealage Homme tonight was an evocative choral reworking of The Blue Hearts’s circa-1990 hits “Aozora” (blue sky), and “Too Much Pain.” The endless runway which ran along the perimeter of the Chichibu Rugby Ground had been covered in puddles of water that splashed lightly as the models made their way around.
As at last season’s show, it was bathed in pink light. Everything Morinaga did that followed was present and correct; this was a triumph of a finale for Tokyo Fashion Week, the kind of nourishing show that you spend all week hoping for. Rich with detail, there was plenty to pore over.
Colors were bold: bubble gum pink, baby blue, deep purple, and bright red and orange, that nonetheless felt harmonious. And that’s to say nothing of the embroidery and embellishment that adorned half the pieces: lashings of pearls, beads, stitching and buttons that added dimension and texture. An unrestrained and beautiful sense for color and embroidery is emerging as a defining code of Morinaga’s menswear, alongside the chunky (and charmingly childish) knits.
This time the latter had incorporated intarsia words including “Friend” (aww) and “Homme Alone” (lol). Most memorable was a pastel pink sweater that had “Made in Harajuku” on the back, with a knitted picture of the fashion distric.