Two hours late to the audition, a leggy model scrambled in to Matohu's showroom. After she presented her portfolio of photos to the designers and performed a short runway strut, she picked up her things, gave a bow and quickly left.

One week before their scheduled fashion show, Noriyuki Horihata and Akiko Sekiguchi of Matohu were just getting down to hammering out the details. Horihata sighed, "Nothing's decided yet but we need to finalize the lineup at the atelier tonight. It's like this every six months."

Expectations were to be especially high for this collection, as the duo had received the New Designer Award at the prestigious Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix in September. Still with only nine collections to their brand's name, they have been steadily gaining trust and admiration for their particular style of East-meets-West and old-meets-new designs.