CORK, KERALA

Caleb Callahan’s fashion collection, Cork, Kerala, draws inspiration from Irish and Indian anti-colonial resistance, incorporating a range of craft traditions into an explicitly political layered collage. Combining historic hand embroidery and kantha quilting with digital printing and reweaving, Callahan worked with found and repurposed clothing to create new textiles, which were then incorporated into new jackets and shorts in a collection that earned Callahan the 2026 Christopher Hunte “On Point” Award at Pratt’s 125 annual runway show. Callahan references the found clothing and standard issue fatigues that made up historic and revolutionary uniforms, proposing a new, modern revolutionary uniform. By physically dismantling and rebuilding textiles, Callahan demonstrates how material repurposing can bridge the gap between historical memory and contemporary environmental responsibility while confronting complex histories of colonial subjugation and self-determination