Born in Kyoto, Akira Isogawa is softly spoken and gracious – rare qualities in a cutthroat business. He moved here in 1986 and backpacked around Australia before studying fashion in Sydney. When he launched his label in 1996, he was so skint he sent his models down the runway in socks. “It’s very nice when people say my clothes are wearable art, but my answer is, ‘No, they’re clothes,’ ” he says. “I’m a fashion designer, I’m not an artist.”