ayo technology

See Clothes That Transform With a Camera’s Flash

Photo: Tomasz Lazar

Paris Fashion Week is many things, but a hotbed of technological innovation and experimentation isn’t one of them. This season, however, may be the exception. Hussein Chalayan showed garments that transformed when run under water, and at Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquière was in full digital get-down mode, with holographic surfaces and manga-heroine swagger. Chanel even livened things up with self-illuminating sandals. But perhaps the most far-flung application of technology this PFW was at Anrealage, the label designed by Kunihiko Morinaga. For his spring 2016 show, titled Reflect, Morinaga used the same techniques seen on construction signs to render patterns that were visible only with a camera’s flash — a canny commentary on the spotlight-seeking, if-no-one-’grammed-it-did-it-happen culture of fashion right now. 

The polar opposite of — though philosophically linked to — designer Adam Harvey’s counter-surveillance fashions, the pieces were coated with recursive reflective paint. One fabric appeared to be vertically striped, while the flash transformed it into a houndstooth pattern, while others appeared a dull gray, only to reveal intricate prints once photographed. We sent photographer Tomasz Lazar to the designer’s showroom in the Third Arrondissement to get up close and personal with the collection.

Photo: Tomasz Lazar
Photo: Tomasz Lazar
Photo: Tomasz Lazar
Photo: Tomasz Lazar
Photo: Tomasz Lazar
Photo: Tomasz Lazar
Photo: Tomasz Lazar
See Clothes That Transform With a Camera’s Flash