Infrequently seen outfits by some of Japan’s most prominent fashion designers, from Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto to the fashion labels dressing Tokyo’s coolest kids, go on display at a new exhibition Friday.

Meanwhile a red outfit by Hiroaki Ohya was created as a book that folded out into a concertina that was enfolded around the body as a skirt and top.

The exhibition also discovers what the curators called “cool Japan”, or the streetstyle developed by Tokyo’s youth, which comprises Hello Kitty and Astro Boy manga characters on clothes by Ohya and Zucca.

And it seems ahead to the work of a new generation of designers, from Chitose Abe — who trained at Comme des Garcons — and Kazuaki Takashima and Tamae Hirokawa — who worked under Miyake.

The show runs from October 15 to February 6, 2011.