Rivaling even the most surreal runway shows, these pencil-drawn, object-animated fashion illustrations use food and other found objects into cutting-edge apparel.

Amenian illustrator Edgar Artis starts with something simple: an illustrated figure that acts as an underlay. But things get strange quickly from there, as he drizzles on spaghetti and meatballs, sprinkles pencil shavings, or carefully arranges lettuce leaves to form dress patterns on top.

These mouth-watering works highlight the possibilities of ordinary colors, textures and patterns, like the fractal forms of fruits and vegetables or the organic diversity of trail mix.

Some are truly over the top, featuring entire entrees, like burgers, re-imagined as outfits (with an optional side of french fries). He says he was inspired after becoming “really tired of princess dresses,’ obsessively selling “beauty and perfection. I created a contemporary design which hides a beautiful message behind.”

“It reminds me of a caterpillar who is about to transform into a beautiful butterfly and fly,” says the designer. “Many people are afraid or shy of showing to everyone what they are capable of. Same situation was with me. Here is my advice, don’t ever ever be shy or afraid, open your beautiful world and show them who you are!”

It’s easy to pan high fashion for being expensive, impractical and out of touch with reality, and all the more so when a fashion item resembles an upcycled everyday item like a car’s floor mat.

Balenciaga, an upscale fashion house, is under fire from frugal bloggers and social media critics for a $2,200 skirt that someone could arguably emulate with a quick trip to Home Depot for floor mats and fasteners.

Indeed, a fashion-minded do-it-yourself type could find a lot more to work with in all of the various patterns available for these kinds of coverings. Perhaps the lesson here isn’t that they’re doing it wrong, but taking inspiration from an unlikely everyday source (and adding a bit much of a markup).

And the fashion house is no stranger to controversy. Earlier this year, they debuted a bright blue tote back, which internet denizens quickly began comparing to IKEA shopping bags. The company eventually responded in good humor, reminding people they could get the original version for under a dollar.

But as the saying goes: all press is good press, so whether or not this particular line takes off Balenciaga’s ongoing provocations are sure to generate periodic buzz for the business (for better or worse).

State of Dress is part fashion, part art and part personal mission, an attempt to capture the essence of all fifty States in the US through a series of site-specific dress designs tailored to each location. Robin Barcus Slonina is the multi-disciplinary artist behind this project and the star of an upcoming documentary of her travels and work.

Some, like the New York City garbage bag dress, are intentionally humorous, referencing absurd couture mixed as well as ubiquitous street-side trash bags. Others, like the Nevada casino chip gown, are plays on local pastimes – in this case: the gaming and gambling cultures for which the state is most well-known.

While artificial materials make up some of the dresses, others are constructed from local organic elements, like Iowa’s prairie dress and Minnesota’s corn dress, each set in (and seeming to spring up from) an apt natural landscape.

Other states with lots of nature likewise ended up with environmental materials, from willows in Wyoming to pine cones in Maine and pine trees in Wisconsin.

The creation of each piece of apparel comes with its own story. Here is a bit more from the artist about the making of the NYC trash bag dress: “The first time I ever visited New York as a young artist was during a massive garbage strike, and it left a lasting impression on me to see mountains of garbage piled so high on busy city sidewalks. To me, the sanitation workers that mange these tiny mountains every week are the true heroes of the city.”

“However, by no means did I mean any disrespect or want to create something ugly for this metropolis of art, beauty and fashion. I therefore strived to create a jet-black, fashionable New York dress, that just happened to be made from garbage bags. To me, this piece represents all the dramatic contrasts inherent to New York: wealth and poverty, art and homelessness – beauty and trash. To fill the bags, I used another New York icon – crumpled-up New York Times newspapers.”