With three weeks to go to New York's fashion week, the Japanese government backed its first runway show outside Japan - in the Big Apple.

Ten emerging designers from Japan presented a total of 47 looks from their Spring 2009 collections, in a show that organizers said was intended to promote the Japanese textile and apparel industries as well as the designers. The show was organized by the Japanese Fashion Week Organization, a non-profit that puts on shows in Japan, and the Japanese government's Japan External Trade Organization.

G.V.G.V. dress.

"If we do something here in New York City, maybe it [is covered] in Moscow, China, all over the world," says Akiko Shinoda, director of Japan Fashion Week, explaining the groups' reason for putting the runway show together. Some of the labels that participated, like Tiny Dinosaur and G.V.G.V., are already carried by small U.S. boutiques, such as Opening Ceremony, which has stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Ms. Shinoda acknowledged that the timing isn't good, given the global economic crisis, but said the organization was thinking long-term. "We are planning for the future, not for this moment," she says.

Last summer the organizations staged a small presentation in the U.S., at the Aloha Rag store in Manhattan.

For last night's runway show, Ms. Shinoda said she chose a diverse group of designers. Looks ranged from G.V.G.V.'s body-conscious sportswear reminiscent of Herve Leger to Hidenobu Yasui's voluminous and minimalist evening gowns and Matohu's new interpretations of the kimono.

Hiroyuki Horihata, one of the designers behind Matohu, was sanguine about trying to expand his brand during a gloomy economic time: "Of course it's not good time," he says. "But we just started. We need to continue."

Tiny Dinosaur's glasses.

"We know that the economy is pretty bad and people are saying, fashion, at this moment?," Hiroshi Kudo, president of Tiny Dinosaur, said through an interpreter. "But we want to make people happier from our clothes. We want to provide more joy."

Among the accessories Tiny Dinosaur featured on the runway were fuzzy green lens-less glasses, with tiny people lounging on the frames. It was a whimsical metaphor for seeing into another, more peaceful world, Mr. Kudo said. He added, "If you see somebody wearing something like that, you feel funny and you feel happy."