Among other innovations, Renaissance painters resolved issues of perspective: natural horizon lines and foreshortening of feet so that they appeared planted on the ground. For frescoes above eye level, as one example, they would distort the figures so anyone looking up would perceive them realistically. Kunihiko Morinaga came at his latest Anrealage collection as an extended exercise in similar trompe l’oeil; the key difference is that he constructed the clothes instead of painting them.
To establish this conceit, he first showed the staples of a preppy wardrobe—navy blazer, chino, argyle vest, et cetera—in three different versions as though being viewed from above, from below, and from the side. Volumes narrowed and widened; pants flared and slimmed down; necklines dipped low and crept up; everything shifted and twisted asymmetrically for the lateral versions. The execution becomes more and more impressive upon noticing that smaller details have been distorted accordingly as well, whether the diamond patterning, the foreshortened tie, and even the buttons and buttonholes that morphed from circles to ellipses.
Before the show, Morinaga explained that imagining the clothes from different angles was motivated by the same starting point as last season’s experimentation in scale: that so much of fashion today is discovered through two-dimensional screens instead of seeing something three-dimensionally. Bags, sunglasses, and headphones were nearly as flat as cardboard yet consistent with each perspective. Tone-on-tone shoes and socks did not undergo any changes.
Here’s the issue: The sleight of hand required to transform 2D into 3D does not fully translate to images that are once again 2D. Without all the explaining above, some pieces—notably, the pants—would be wearable in the real world, but many of the otherwise clever distortions might be perceived as arbitrarily absurd. Still, those who dare to don the extra-roomy, high-angle blazer or any of the torqued dresses can engage any quizzical glances. “Just imagine you’re looking at me from below,” and see where the conversation goes.
