Rkive City turns to material memory for sesquicentennial celebration of Mayo College

Alumnus of the iconic Mayo College in Ajmer, and the founder of the research and design house, Rkive City, designer Ritwik Khanna, presented an exclusive showcase of his menswear line to kickstart the institution’s sesquicentennial celebrations. The collection highlighted the evocative journey of the college’s storied legacy through reconstructed uniforms, cultural memory, and a spirit of intervention.

Khanna’s distinctive approach to fashion, with a deliberate focus on post-consumer textile waste, was the mainstay in interpreting the rich sartorial history of the institution.  The showcase on the historic grounds of the Mughal Gardens at Mayo College was witnessed by an audience of alumni, students, parents, teachers, and friends of the designer from across the country. An unassuming cast of current students, alumni, and retired teachers walked the runway to Rajasthan’s traditional brass band dressed in white dhoti, kurtas, and red safas. The musicians filled the air with quintessential signature melodies of their land. The folk tunes were reminiscent of a school roll call, and the walk drew parallel to a march-past from the good old school days.

The designer used discarded Pachranga tents, old linens, and the iconic culottes worn by generations of students as the vision board for the collection. Returned, refreshed, and reimagined, these materials were transformed into pieces that honoured memory while embracing re-invention. Bandhgala jackets were paired with old pants, upcycled blazers from discarded tents, aged denim with embellishments, exaggerated cuffs, hand-done gota appliqué, recreated house colours, polo-inspired silhouettes, school ties as brooches, antique coins became buttons, old blazers as tailored shorts, weathered sweaters rebuilt into structured jackets—were some of the highlights from the collection. Additionally, Khanna’s models walked in mud-dyed, naturally repaired, and reconstructed old Converse shoes collected from people in exchange for new pairs—a unique collaboration with the sneakers brand. In its ode to Mayo College, the collection embodied Rkive City’s foundational belief system—re-wear, repair, and reconstruct—rooted in purpose and shaped by the designer’s learnings from his alma mater.

Image credit: RKIVE city

This article first appeared in the December 2025 print issue of Harper's Bazaar India.

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