President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney aren’t the kind of faces you expect to see at a fashion show in New York. But, one designer showing at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, being held in New York from September 6 to 13, used their images to grab attention for her latest collection.

Katya Leonovich, originally from Moscow, showed one dress painted with a portrait of the US president, and another with Mitt Romney’s portrait, as part of her couture bridal runway show. Couture — or haute couture (“high fashion”) — refers to the highest end of fashion design, specifically to custom fitted or custom made, usually with intricate details, such as beading, applied by hand.

Leonovich learned couture techniques while working in Paris, Rome, and Moscow. However, her style eschews the classical vision of couture for a look that she describes as “beautiful garbage.”

Although models usually walk the catwalk individually, Leonovich sent two models, wearing the Obama and Romney dresses, down the catwalk at the same time. The music for the show was Sergei Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knight, composed for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.