Kit Roberts
New York Fashion Week is now well underway, but one outfit in particular has caught everyone's attention, though maybe not for the right reasons.
The catwalk - hosted by social media agency Creators Inc. - was open and models were strutting their stuff up and down it. Then one person entered the runway in New York, wearing a shower cap, swimming shorts, and a plastic cape type thing over their topless body.
It looked either like a trash bag or one of those plastic ponchos you can sometimes see handed out at festivals when it rains. Either way, it certainly made a statement.
The person was greeted as any other model on the catwalk with plenty of cheers and applause.
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But all was not as it seemed.
As the 'model' neared the end of the runway, a security officer can be seen chasing him down. Then, at the end of the catwalk the security guard grabs hold of him and drags him from the runway, leaving the audience nonplussed.
It seems that the 'model' was in fact not showing off a fashion statement, but was actually an intruder.
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After the video was shared on social media, many took to the comments to share their thoughts, with one person quipping: "That is not garbage but garbagé."
Another said: "I swear these runway outfits get trashier each year."
A third revealed they had briefly been taken in by the intruder, writing: "I literally thought new fashion."
Since the video was posted, some people have suggested that the intruder was a YouTube prankster by the name of Fred Beyer.
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Beyer posts a variety of prank videos on his YouTube channel, which has 300,000 subscribers in a similar vein to this stunt. He shared a screenshot from the video to his Instagram Story but has not yet confirmed if it was him.
Nonetheless, it is unclear how the intruder managed to make his way into the fashion show.
This is not the first time that someone has created a conversation after imitating a piece of art or design.
In 2016 teenagers Kevin Nguyen and TJ Khayatan took the art world by storm when they put a pair of spectacles on the floor of an art gallery, only for visitors to think that it was one of the exhibits.
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It would be easy to descend into a diatribe about the ridiculousness and banality of modern art and fashion from these examples.
While there's no denying they are funny, there is also something more reflective to be found here.
In a society which idolises a protestant work ethic, hard work is a virtue in and of itself whether or not it is 'useful', we might want to feel as though a piece of design or art has had a lot of hours put into it. It's the work or process behind the piece which makes it 'good', not the art or fashion piece itself, or the statement it makes.
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When someone enters a fashion show wearing a literal trash bag or puts some glasses on the floor, it challenges this view.
In an ironic twist, the pranksters who enter the worlds of art and fashion to take the mickey often end up becoming part of the dialogue they are ridiculing.