“The road we believed was a straight line had been drawing a circle”: ANREALAGE celebrates 25 collections in Paris Sarah Andelman collaborates with Kunihiko Morinaga
From October 2 to 5 in the heart of the Marais, ANREALAGE arrives in Paris with JUST AN REAL AGE, an immersive retrospective and pop-up store curated by Sarah Andelman. Celebrating 25 Paris collections, the event explores the invisible boundary between the ordinary and the extraordinary, extending a creative dialogue that began a decade ago.
Inside a vacuum-sealed structure sheathed in an immaculate white membrane, time feels suspended. From Spring/Summer 2015 (SHADOW) to Spring/Summer 2027 (SKIN), 25 collections by Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga unfold across three spaces. At the center of the first two rooms, a circular podium rotates archival silhouettes clockwise, beneath the giant sphere from the Autumn/Winter 2024–25 OBJECT collection - a nod to Doraemon and time travel. Further along, robotic arms sweep UV light across photochromic pieces from the Autumn/Winter 2023–24 collection, revealing patterns invisible to the naked eye.
This retrospective marks a key milestone for the house. “The idea of the circle has been with the brand from the very beginning,” explains Kunihiko Morinaga. He elaborates: “Think of A and Z […]. On a line, they sit at opposite ends. But when you bend that line into a circle, the two opposites meet, and the end becomes a beginning.” In the ANREALAGE logo, the letters A and Z overlap: by merging the 26 letters of the alphabet, the brand finds its “golden ratio” - a phrase used by Morinaga himself - at 25 collections.
A bond forged ten years ago
This exhibition seals a longstanding creative connection with Sarah Andelman (founder of JUST AN IDEA). Their first meeting dates back to 2015 at the REFLECT show at Palais de Tokyo, continuing through the 2019 LVMH Prize and deepening around the 2024 OBJECT collection.
The event’s title, JUST AN REAL AGE, merges their two worlds. While Morinaga notes that “JUST means ‘only a little,’ our own little touch of the extraordinary,” Sarah Andelman brings her own perspective on clothing and innovation: “I always considered clothing as an extension of the mood, and a platform for designers to interact. I always prefer clothes with a twist, a small detail, which makes the distinction from a basic - it can be via a print, a shape for a skirt. What I love about ANREALAGE is the innovation we don't see, like the UV t-shirt with a print appearing under the sun: it's always a fun surprise.”
“Sarah translated our science-fiction world into simple, understated everyday objects.”
For this event, Sarah Andelman translated ANREALAGE's technological poetry into everyday items. The third space houses a shop offering a creative A-to-Z of 26 reinterpreted items, ranging from a limited-edition marble Apple to a kitchen Zester stamped with the house monogram. Andelman composed this line of everyday objects using signature elements of the brand, such as patchwork uniting fragments of the past, natural flowers preserved in resin, spherical volumes, and FOREARTH eco-friendly printing technology with near-zero water usage.
Sound and light: invisible materials
The exhibition's third room is dedicated to Thomas Bangalter, whose collaboration with Morinaga began in 2024 with the ballet Mirage. For the first time, the soundtracks Bangalter composed for the SCREEN (A/W 2025–26) and ♥ (S/S 2026) runway shows take physical form as SONGS FOR ANREALAGE, an exclusive vinyl record pressed by The Vinyl Factory.
For Morinaga, sound and light become textile materials in their own right: “Sound is definitely one of the materials of a fashion show. Like light, you can't see it. The sound Thomas creates shows us how raw the act of wearing clothes really is - it’s physical and organic, falling outside any program. Thomas is the craftsman who gives shape to our emotions.”
After its Paris stop in the Marais through October 5, the JUST AN REAL AGE exhibition will travel to Tokyo, opening on October 29 following a preview reception on October 28 with Sarah Andelman.
