Screams erupted from 22,000 young women in flowery frills, boots, really short shorts and glittery jewellery whenever a model - dressed similarly - waltzed down the runway in a Tokyo stadium.

"Kawaii,'' cooed the women in Japanese. "Cute, adorable."

As they gushed over the models and their outfits, many also pulled out their mobile phones and placed orders for the clothes on the models marching past.

Japanese do on mobile phones almost anything that other people do on computers: read email and news, search for restaurants, blog and shop. Enough new mobile phones were sold in Japan last year - a total of 52.3 million - for nearly half the population.

The biannual Tokyo Girls Collection show, the brainchild of Tokyo startup Xavel Inc, targets both the popularity of mobile devices and the fashion frenzy of this nation's trendy youngsters.

Xavel runs girlswalker.com and fashionwalker.com, sites designed to be accessed from mobile phones as well as personal computers. And it welcomes retailers to sell their wares through the sites.

Since its 1999 founding, Xavel has grown into such a big name that Toyota Motor Corp, Walt Disney Co's Japan mobile unit, Tiffany & Co and other big retailers are signing on to participate in the shows. And about 200 companies, mostly smaller local brands, sell through fashionwalker.com.
Some 7 million people regularly read the girlswalker.com magazine site, while 3 million shop at fashionwalker.com each month, according to Xavel, which also runs a job-referral site that advertises positions in boutiques and other jobs likely to interest trendy women.