Despite Brad Callahan’s ever-growing fame, he chose to keep his New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2019 show in his home of Bushwick at the infamous 3 Dollar Bill. This decision fits well for Callahan, better known as BCALLA, as it leans in to his accessible yet otherworldly designs. The closeness his audiences feel to his clothing may be a testament to his inspiration, which he finds in anime, cheap boutiques and dollar stores in Bushwick, comic-books, and other very familiar places. Nevertheless, he has created for some of the biggest musicians, including Lady Gaga, Mykki Blanco, and Miley Cyrus, and also for many prolific individuals who dominate drag scenes worldwide.

Callahan doesn’t consider his brand to be a queer brand or a drag brand, because these terms are closely associated with gender. However, BCALLA’s unisex, futuristic collection imagines a world where gender is nonexistent within fashion. 

Not only did his collection break the boundaries of gender and clothing, but it also transcended what a runway and models have historically looked like. Every single model in BCALLA’s show was black, which is not only subversive in the fashion industry, but particularly so in the more visible drag scene. Additionally, his runway was far from traditional. Each model had the chance to perform for the crowd on a stage which they walked across, rather than walk down through a crowd. This performative nature of his show disrupted how genderless high fashion looks, what it needs to be presented as, and how it ought to be consumed.

Review and photography by Sarah Zarina Hakani @sarah.zarina