Nicola Formichetti interviews Kunihiko Morinaga for the new issue of SYKY Magazine

The cover of SYKY Magazine’s second issue is our take on ANREALAGE's Wind Spring/Summer 2025 collection. For this edition, I wanted to create something really special. Being in the audience at the show in Paris last year and seeing the Wind collection’s ‘breathing clothes’ in person was such an incredible experience. I’ve never seen anything like it. I wanted to do something that reflected how much that show resonated with me. This cover is our way of capturing the feeling and experience I had seeing Morinaga-San’s work. – Nicola Formichetti

Nicola Formichetti: For me, the direction we're exploring with SYKY Magazine is a new way of creating editorials and a new way of presenting fashion, rather than producing a magazine that acts as a ‘lookbook’ for brands. What do you think about this as a new way of presenting fashion brands?

Kunihiko Morinaga: Fashion editorials have traditionally centered around brand lookbooks, however, times are changing. True innovation in fashion design today is not just about new aesthetics – it’s about redefining the very concept of design itself. I believe the editorial approach of SYKY Magazine has updated the conventional notion of fashion editorials: Much like how fashion constantly evolves, it challenges how fashion is presented.

Nicola: Tell me how the ‘breathing’ clothing in your Wind collection came about?

Kunihiko Morinaga: The inspiration came from the idea of giving garments breath, infusing them with anima, making them animate like living beings. Just as humans breathe, these garments expand and contract, continuously changing shape. A real-world reference is the summer landscape in Japan, where workers wear fan-equipped garments to stay cool. These garments allow external air to circulate inside, cooling the body. While originally developed for functionality, I saw potential in this structure to reshape clothing itself and to make it ‘breathe’.

For the materials, we used ultra-fine threads, about one-third the thickness of human hair. This made the fabric extremely thin and lightweight, allowing it to expand without succumbing to gravity, even with the slightest airflow. Thinness alone wasn't enough; we increased the textile’s weave density to enhance air-tightness, enabling the garments to retain air and transform in shape. All of this was made possible through specialized Japanese technology.

The development process took about six months, and presenting it on the Paris runway was particularly challenging due to the need for remote-controlled airflow adjustments. Automating this aspect was one of the biggest hurdles in bringing the collection to life.

Nicola Formichetti: We worked on creating an incredible experience for Apple Vision Pro together last year, bringing an ANREALAGE fashion show into people’s living rooms for the first time. How did you find the experience of working with SYKY?

Kunihiko Morinaga: I believe we witnessed a historic shift in the format of fashion shows: an epoch-making moment. In the future, the act of physically traveling across countries to attend fashion shows or visiting brick-and-mortar stores to purchase garments may become a thing of the past. These physical experiences will become extraordinary, while the new normal will be the seamless connection between physical and digital spaces.

With Apple Vision Pro, our physical room transformed into a runway. The space in front of us became a virtual store. It felt like stepping into a new era where all physical constraints disappeared, and fashion’s sense of extraordinary could be freely accessed within everyday life. I was deeply honored to have the opportunity to immerse audiences in the world of ANREALAGE anytime, anywhere, for the first time in history.

Nicola Formichetti: What do you think future VR headsets will look like? How will that affect fashion?

Kunihiko Morinaga: Almost everything has now been digitized and transcended physical distance. However, there is one element that still hasn't: Tactility. I believe the day will come when touch can be transmitted across distances. Fashion relies heavily on textile textures and materiality, and I anticipate a future where tactile sensations can be experienced even through digital screens.

Nicola Formichetti: For me, you are one of the most exciting Japanese designers. I grew up in Japan, and I regularly go back. I’d love to hear about what’s going on in Japan and what being there as a designer is like.

Kunihiko Morinaga: Japanese culture remains deeply rooted in streetwear, but today, luxury, digital aesthetics, anime, and vintage fashion all coexist without clear boundaries. The younger generation has super-flat perspectives formed within an overwhelming flood of information. They exist beyond gender, beyond culture, and even beyond traditional distinctions like menswear vs. womenswear, or mode vs. streetwear vs. vintage.

I am most inspired by young design students. I sit on judging panels for student competitions, and I can say with certainty that Tokyo has a unique creative vision, and promising designers will continue to emerge from this city.

Nicola Formichetti: What are you working on for ANREALAGE’s next season?

Kunihiko Morinaga: We have developed a new textile inspired by LED screens. Traditionally, garments have fixed designs, but now, we are exploring garments where designs move and evolve continuously. This is not about static printed graphics but a future where moving images become the design itself. Until now, LEDs have been rigid and inflexible. However, we have successfully developed a highly flexible, wearable LED that allows garments to display dynamic visuals.

Nicola Formichetti: What do you think the future of fashion looks like? Has it changed since we worked together on Apple Vision Pro?

Kunihiko Morinaga: As Apple Vision Pro evolves, becoming smaller and more accessible, perhaps even worn like regular glasses, the experience of fashion shows and shopping will transform entirely. Physical garments will no longer be the only valuable form of fashion. Immaterial, digital garments will gain new significance. This will mark the moment where extraordinary experiences become everyday realities.

Fashion’s final frontier will always be touch – even in a fully digital world. As long as tactility exists as a sensory perception, fashion will always remain connected to the human body. That is my belief.

SYKY Magazine: Issue 02 is a limited edition digital cover available to collect until February 13. Keystone Holders get a free mint.