Many fashion lovers would do anything for a spot at New York Fashion Week.

But one designer is searching for particularly daring models who are willing to take to the runway in nothing but tape.

From tiny bras to saucy sheer dresses and the no-pants trend, NYFW always plays host to an array of racy looks but one particularly raunchy show has had heads turning over the past few years.

Back in 2022, The Black Tape Project left audiences shocked as their models took to the runway wearing nothing but duct tape and last year they returned to the prestigious fashion event.

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The models’ bodies were contoured with stripes of black and metallic tape, and the sticky material was also used to create kinky cuffs and anklets. Now the sexy show is set to return for the first NYFW of 2024, which runs until February 14, and they’re looking for models brave enough to strut their stuff nearly nude.

Taking to Instagram, where they have more than 800,000 followers, The Black Tape Project announced an open casting call inviting models to audition for their NYFW runway show and live performance — which takes place on February 11. They captioned the post: “Bring heels and swimwear that shows off your figure.

“Looking for bodies that inspire new tape designs and have experience walking runway. Everyone is welcome. Come meet the dragons”.

The Black Tape Project’s daring designs are the brainchild of designer Joel Alvarez, also known as Drakhan Blackheart. The self-dubbed “king of tape” and “father of dragons” considers himself to be the “founder and pioneer of the Body Tape Art Genre”.

On his website, The Black Tape Project founder, who is a first-generation Cuban American and was raised in Miami, reveals he once had “not a dollar” to his name and was living from his car as he struggled to even feed himself. But in 2008 his life changed when after most of his family passed away he inherited a small property.

The “run-down” home was “not safe for living” and “smelled like wet dog” but as he was cleaning it, Joel discovered $26,000 hidden in a cigar box in his late grandfather’s closet. After paying off his debts, fixing the roof of his home and giving some of the money to family and friends, Joel used the last of it to purchase a camera and started pursuing a career in photography.

It was during the start of his career that he decided to start using tape instead of clothes to dress models when one of his clients suggested it. On his website, Joel recalls: “One day an out of town model booked me for a shoot and on our last look she pulled out a roll of tape and asked me to tape her.

“I had no idea where to start or what she was expecting. So again I just jumped head first and started taping her. The design was so incomplete and extremely tight. She looked like the Michelin Man who lost a fight with rubber bands.”

He added: “I kept at it because I kept seeing lines and I found the ability to compliment the body by adding lines and creating negative spaces that called to the viewers.” Soon Joel started working at local clubs in Miami where he’d tape up the dancers in the same way.

“I had to work fast and make designs that wouldn’t fall apart when they danced, this is where I developed most of my techniques,” he said. But he had his big break when he got the chance to work with a former Miss Puerto Rico for a charity event and created a metallic gold tape design on her that went viral within hours.

Since then, Joel’s provocative tape designs have seen him travel all over the world and he now teaches other people how to create them. He said: “Soon we started seeing customers who themselves became artists creating their own body tape designs with our tape in all 7 continents.

“Today, we have customers and students all over the world. I have been an artist my whole life and in business since 2008, yet I truly feel I am just getting started.”