“Clips from a 2019 episode of “Project Runway” have been making the rounds on Twitter and TikTok after fans noticed that the show has a wild connection to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Season 17 of the fashion design show, which aired in 2019, included a designer named Kovid Kapoor. One of the challenges during the season was called “Head To Toe,” which called for contestants to create a printed design that was featured, well, head to toe. Kapoor’s design for the challenge eerily evokes a look that would become all too common just a year later. In a red plaid design, Kapoor created a suit with an accompanying face mask. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kovid Kapoor (@kovid.kpr) A year later, people on social media can’t help but notice how Kapoor’s garment foreshadowed a look we’d all be sporting in 2020, and how similar his name is to the virus COVID-19. (A name used in Indian culture, Kovid is actually a Sanskrit word meaning “intelligent or poet.”) Additionally, two of the hosts of the show repeatedly called Kapoor’s plaid mask outfit “sick.” A TikTok of the exchange from user @Joanschumachermartin went viral over the weekend. 😮2019 Project Runway had a contestant named Kovid who made a facial mask to go with his runway look! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ey0Rq01I2N— Myriam 🌊 (@maximusmom13) 十一月 30, 2020 Subliminal predictive programming pic.twitter.com/lmKVwmDH5T— 🧘🏻♀️ (@wokewithkels) 十一月 29, 2020 People have periodically recalled Kapoor’s appearance and design on Twitter over the last year, with one particular fan garnering the attention of “Runway” host Karlie Kloss. Watching Season 17 of project runway. Designer named Kovid made an outfit with a face mask almost exactly a year (mar 2019) before the pandemic 🤯 #COVID19 #ProjectRunway #Masks pic.twitter.com/E7V1MyUFaG— m_ali (@dr_mali24) July 6, 2020 2019 Project Runway had a contestant named \”Kovid\” who dressed his model in a face mask. pic.twitter.com/fBZPyBlcQO— Serrajjii (@serrajjii) September 25, 2020 😧 https://t.co/jdbjg4QIfH— Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) July 14, 2020 HuffPost reached out to Kapoor for his thoughts on the coincidence. He didn’t respond, but he did share a tweet that seems to indicate he finds the conversation he’s ignited to be humorous: 😂😂 https://t.co/a9UNSwuDEA— kovidlab (@EnergyKovid) 十一月 30, 2020 Well, Kovid, we can only hope you’ve made more masks in the last year, because we’re sure they’ve come in handy.
