A designer took an alternative approach to swimwear when it sent its models down the New York Fashion Week runway wearing bikinis made just out of tape.

Black Tape Project, a Miami-based label that mixes art and fashion, made its New York Fashion Week debut on Sunday.

Models took to the catwalk in a variety of risqué designs consisting entirely of small pieces of tapes stuck onto their bodies, assembled to reflect some of the swimwear trends of the season.

Edgy: Black Tape Project, a Miami-based label that mixes art and fashion, sent models down the New York Fashion Week runway on Sunday in bikinis made out of tape

Design: One model had silver tape arranged on her skull and on her upper body, and wore a skirt made out of strips of the same tape

One model walked the runway with pieces of green tape pasted from her neck to her crotch, snaking down her body in a daring one-piece.

Another model had silver tape arranged on her skull and on her upper body, and wore a skirt made out of strips of the same tape.

Joel Alvarez, the photographer behind the project, also covered a model in teal tape to give her a two-piece swimsuit, and crafted an edgy black one-piece onto another model.

Black Tape Project, described as a cross between ‘tape art and alternative fashion’, stems from a 2008 experiment that saw Joel cover a model in black electrical tape.

Risqué: Joel Alvarez, the photographer behind the project, assembled a black one-piece onto this model’s skin

Swimwear: Another model had a teal two-piece made out of small pieces of body tape

Versatile: Joel crafted a black bikini featuring studs for his New York Fashion Week show

Outfit: This model’s tape-made top and skirt were paired with sparkly pumps

Glittery: One model wore a sparkly, low-cut one-piece crafted out of silver tape pieces

Pasted: One model wore a bondage-style, black swimsuit made entirely out of tape

While he admits on his website that the model looked like ‘two Christmas hams wrapped in rubber bands’ by the time he was done, Joel continued experimenting with various kinds of tape, and his project began to attract attention.

As a self-proclaimed heir of the ‘Myspace era’, Joel eventually became an Instagram sensation, and in July this year showed his work at Miami Swim Week.

The photographer now has 280,000 followers on Instagram, where he regularly shares snaps of his tape designs.

Back when he first started out, Joel went through ‘a lot of trial and error’, but kept believing in his idea.

Above all, he was struck by how the tape enabled him to ‘compliment’ the models’ figure ‘unlike any wardrobe or fashion out there’.

On Sunday, he showed how versatile body tape can be by crafting an array of looks using just that one supply.

Among the designs he featured on his catwalk were a bondage-style, black swimsuit, as well as another black bikini featuring studs.