Haute-couturist Noriko Kitamura first created the costumes for Takao Kawaguchi's The Middle of the World in March 2000 and has since designed costumes for all of Kawaguchi's solo performances. She has also worked with other dance companies and artists including Dance Theatre LUDENS, Dumb Type, Atsuko Yoshifuku, Miki Hiramatsu,Tomoyo Okada and Yuko Hirai.