PFW Tuesday: Ruohan, Anrealage and Bernadette

Two cultures that have always had a deep mutual admiration are Japan and France, which made it salutary to see two individualist Japanese creators – Ruohan and Anrealage – on first full day of Paris Fashion Week. They, and an online Belgium brand, gaining traction in the real world.
 

Ruohan: Serial music, art gallery chic

Fashion and music met with considerable poise at Ruohan this season, in a show where the cast marched a quartet playing Terry Riley composed serial music, semi hidden inside a white transparent box.

Staged in the atrium of art show space Lafayette Anticipations, the event skillfully highlighted what is best about Ruohan.
 
“I wanted to create a sense of counterpoint in the clothes as in the music,” explained Ruohan Nie, who studied cello as a child. Which one sensed from mellifluous mode she presented.

Created entirely in mono-color – in a palette of beige, coffee, black and midnight blue – the key to the collection was soft sculptural forms. Curvy shoulders, extended waists, soft mannish tailoring.
 
Featuring off-the-shoulder blouses; soft pajama pants in a double gauze; dimpled one shoulder dresses. The sort of clothes a woman wears to an art gallery opening, which is what this show felt like.
 
Born in China, fashion educated in Parsons in New York and Paris, Ruohan Nie has developed a cult following for her understated arty fashion. One of those shows that one only really sees in Paris, the better to be appreciated in the Marais this Tuesday.
 

Anrealage: Puts the wind up you

Few designers think more out of the box than Kuniko Morinaga, who celebrated his 10th year showing in Paris with clothes that inflated surreally on the runway.

An essentially conceptual designer, Kuniko’s theme this season was wind, and how it alters proportions, silhouette and mood. Especially when your clothes are equipped with their own side fans.  As all this collection was, the mini ventilators cunningly hidden into each look.
 
These blew up leaf like nylon jerkins into humongous globes or inflated microfiber blousons into twisted Antoine Bourdelle worthy sculptures. It made for a bizarre yet beautiful moment in the bowels of the Trocadero Palace. 
 
“My idea is always the rapport between nature and technology, just like in these clothes,” explained the gentlemanly Kuniko, a 2019 LVMH Prize finalist.
 
Like all his staff and PR team, he wore a neatly fitted black nylon jerkin, with a side fan of course. Which inflated and reduced according to their moods. 
 

The Bernadette Café is open for business

One brand worth watching is Bernadette, a Belgian marque that opened two 9-day pop-up cafés in Paris Tuesday, the better to display its fresh, and romantically kicky clothes.

 
Founded five years as a straight-to-consumer brand, Bernadette is the brainchild of mother and daughter Bernadette and Charlotte De Geyter. Based in Antwerp, its astute use of colorful fabrics, sense of ease and generally relaxed attitude has seen Bernadette achieve explosive growth. Now it sells in over 50 international retailers. This spring it launched its bridal line. Last December, to celebrate the brand’s 5th anniversary, they even created ice sleeve for Laurent Perrier champagne.
 
On a wet Tuesday morning, the models in Bernadette’s Spring/Summer 2025 clothes added some optimism to the day. It’s the sort of collection where a gal wears a floor-length embroidered gown then pairs it with sneakers or sandals. Then tops that with a leather jacket or skull cap. Digital floral prints created on iPads and used in knits are also key, clever elements; as are pajamas worn as dinner party looks, and not to bed.
 
The collection gently echoes practical and tender elements in the founders’ careers. Bernadette worked for Ralph Lauren for many years, and Charlotte studied at Antwerp’s Royal Academy before a stint working for Simone Rocha.
 
Located at 26 rue Reaumur, the 2nd arrondissement, the café is painted in bubblegum pink, while drinks are served in their own Bernadette crockery and glassware. It’s one of two Bernadette Cafés this fashion week; the other is at 47 rue Cler in the 7th. 
 
The cappuccino isn’t half bad either.