The room goes quiet. Thump, thump, thump, the sound of a heart – a pulse that might belong to anything, or anyone. Perhaps echoing my last marathon chasing down the Fashion Week bus. For his Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Kunihiko Morinaga doesn’t just show clothes — he orchestrates a symphony of heartbeats. His garments expand, sigh like late-night whispers, and flutter as if they were alive. A motto amid the clamor of artificial minds.
Sending love from the abyss of the 3rd row, all eyes over the pulse of fabrics. One dress swells at the chest like it has just fallen in love; jackets ripple in baroque waves; skirts toss themselves into the air with a mischief that feels part sea-creature, part carnival. The collection is born from a collaboration with HERALBONY, a Tokyo-Paris-Morioka creative company redefining how the world views artists with disabilities. Eighteen of these artists fill the runway with unfiltered visions — multicolored universes printed on silks, poplin, and organza. Through KYOCERA’s FOREARTH technology, the prints explode in color while saving nearly all the water usually wasted in textile printing. (The planet exhales in relief.)
And then come the accessories. Forget minimal clutches: Morinaga gives us cats as handbags – robotic tails swishing in real time, developed with Yukai Engineering. New emotional pet support activated. Imagine models strutting the runway, casually petting their purses as a cat lady 2.0.
The soundtrack? A heartbeat overlaid with everyday sounds captured by HERALBONY artists. It’s a reminder that in an age where AI talks louder than humans, our humanness — our quirks, imperfections, breaths — is the real avant-garde.
True to form, Morinaga bends perception: two eyes on the same scene, yet each discovers a different world. Where do those worlds meet, and what wonders appear when the edges blur?
♥ — this season pulses with more than love: it celebrates resilience, uniqueness, and the untamed delight of difference.
