Tokyo Fashion Week closes

The sixth Tokyo Fashion Week brought out the edgy and the offbeat on Friday, with models from all walks of life grooving on the catwalk. More than forty designers, including ten newcomers, unveiled their autumn and winter collection at the fashion feast.

Among the ten collections showcased in midtown Tokyo, the budding Japanese brand Gut's Dynamite Cabarets stood apart. Originally a men's underwear collection, the two designers of this house -- Cabaret Aki and Jackal Kuzu - have expanded the brand into full-fledged unisex urban street wear.

Strutting around the stage were no carbon-copy models. Dancers, journalists, fashion students, drag queens, and just plain fans of the brand joined a handful of professional runway models. Altogether, more than twenty-five people, all close friends of the designers, were dressed in bright neon outfits with zebra and leopard prints.

Takeshi Kudo, Japanese fashion journalist, said, "The designers' funky, pop and entertaining style is reflected in this collection. I had a blast walking down the catwalk!"

To these young designers, the Japan Fashion Week meant more than the catwalk razzle-dazzle.

Jackal Kuzu, co-designer of Gut's Dynamite Cabarets, said, "The Japan Fashion Week provides the right kind of opportunity for designers like us, who don't speak English and don't have the channels to reach out to the foreign markets."

Another young duo also surprised the guests with their showmanship. The main catwalk was nowhere to be found at Akira Takeuchi and Tayuka Nakanishi's "Theater Products" collection.

Models posed to the rhythm of camera flash and stylists interfered the photo session right in front of the guests. The collection was inspired by 80's pop singer Cyndi Lauper.