Creatives on the move with Eastpak

December 01, 2025

New York City is renowned for its constant motion. Everyone is always heading somewhere, namely, the city’s creatives. It’s not rare to see photographers or directors like Sophie Hur and Lucas Ansel running to their next set, or a viral vintage shop owner like Emma Rogue schlepping suitcases of clothing to add to her stock. A hair artist like Sergio Estrada would get it; he’s always heading to the next celebrity client, carrying tons of products and tools to beautify someone.

In the city, and sometimes abroad if you’re on tour like the rapper sensation Liim, relying on a suitcase to get to the next gig is a common occurrence. These creatives look to Eastpak to help them with their daily lives projects in motion. The brand designs reliable, but cool luggage for creatives like such to blend in with their everyday style whether they’re traveling abroad or five more blocks in Manhattan.

Photography Kane Ocean
Styling Cassie Jekanoski
Creative Direction Mitchell Connell
Videography Jonathon Blair
Talent Lucas Ansel, Sergio Estrada, Sophie Hur, Liim, and Emma Rogue
Hair Takayuki Umeda
Makeup Yunqi Ying
Interviews + Words Kerane Marcellus
Creative Producer Abby Dillingham
Video Assistant Weston Flemmons
Styling Assistant Alice Mercy
Production Coordinator Rea Brayshaw
Production Assistants Selena Aiyla, Lola Corfixen and JohnOswald Crichton

Sophie Hur, photographer and filmmaker

SOPHIE wears HOODIE by DURAN LANTINK, SKIRT by PRISCAVERA, EARRINGS by MARTINE ALI, SOCKS by SANDY LIANG, SNEAKERS by NIKE, + GLASSES are TALENT'S OWN.

Artists like Sophie Hur keep the city going. Her visual storytelling is informed not only by being behind the camera, but in front of it with a background in acting. Hur is making moves towards filmmaking, blending all her creative worlds.

How did you get into photography?

I was introduced to film photography in my second year of acting school by a photographer friend. When it came to applying for an artist visa here in NYC, I couldn’t pursue both photography and acting legally. That’s when I took the plunge and followed the pull I had towards creating an image rather than being in an image, and my photography career began. I am now transitioning into the world of narrative filmmaking. Making films has always been a dream of mine, so it’s exciting that I can now sort of marry my skills in the two fields (acting and image making) and make movies.

If you got the chance to, how would you shoot an Eastpak campaign?

I’d suspend Willem Dafoe from a crane, holding onto fifty Eastpaks tied together…

What’s your favorite piece of advice from a photographer you admire?

It’s not something he’s ever said, but watching Frank Lebon’s work feels like a sort of quiet advice to stay honest. His process is so personal and instinctive, and it’s a good reminder to trust my own instincts and lean into imperfection.

Tell us a secret…

Digital cameras still confuse me. I just hope for the best.

How does Eastpak fit your personal style?

My style is slightly undone, a bit offbeat, and quietly sexy. I like wearing a mix of masculine and feminine shapes. Eastpak fits because it complements that without overdoing it.

Which piece embodies your style the most?

The camo print suitcase. I don’t know why, it just feels like me. It’s slightly chaotic, but practical. It’s constantly moving. I think it would look even better when it’s scuffed from trips. I like it when things aren’t too polished.

What’s on your bucket list?

A road trip around Australia. I’m from Brisbane, and it’s always been a dream to really explore more of the country. I miss Australian beaches and nature every single day.

Liim, rapper

LIIM wears JACKET by RHUDE, HOODIE by SUPREME, POLO by SAUL, PANTS by TELFAR, GLASSES by GENTLE MONSTER, JEWELRY by MARTINE ALI, SHOES by MARTINE ROSE x CLARKS + BELT is TALENT'S OWN.

Liim’s music reflects the city’s growing new sound. The young rapper is paving a new path for himself, not subscribing to any one genre and staying true to his New York roots. Now on tour for his debut album Liim Laselle Loves You, Liim’s melodic yearnings are taking over Europe with the help of a camo print Resist’r suitcase.

What drew you to music, and what’s your earliest memory of your relationship to it?

What drew me to music was my lack of it growing up in a religious household. Whenever I did hear music, it was like a moth to a flame. As I got older, I just became damn near addicted to listening and then songwriting and eventually creating my own music. Earliest memories for me always change; the one I can remember today is listening to the radio on my non-religious dad's iPod as my mother was away in Morocco for a funeral. I stayed up all night listening to the radio, and I actually remember crying cause I was just feeling that shit.

Describe your style in three words or fewer.

New York, fly me…

Who’s your style inspiration?

I feel like subconsciously I definitely have a few off the top; I’d say Andre 3000, Opraah, and Nas.

When traveling, what’s the first thing you would pack in your Eastpak luggage?

Well, the first thing I actually did pack ( just got off a flight in London) was three pairs of Supreme jeans.

What’s your #1 tour destination you haven’t been to yet?

China.

What advice did you need to hear but didn’t want to hear?

“Gotta man up.”

Are you Type A or Type B when it comes to traveling?

I like the letter A, so I’ll go with that :)

Lucas Ansel, director

LUCAS wears JACKET by LU'U DAN, TOP SHIRT by STILL KELLY c/o EMCEE STUDIOS, UNDERSHIRT by DURAN LANTINK, PANTS are TALENT'S OWN, BELT from STYLIST'S ARCHIVE, BRACELET + CHAIN by MARTINE ALI, GLASSES by GENTLE MONSTER, + SHOES by UGG.

Lucas Ansel has always been an artist in his own right. He was making movies from a young age and that love of storytelling never left him. Ansel’s Academy Award-winning stop-motion film 12 Inch Pianist took two years to create. His storytelling that takes patience, and as he said he enjoys “solving the puzzle of how to tell a story.”

Who would be your dream travel buddy?

My brother. We move the same way, no plans, just figuring it out as we go.

As a director in NYC, what Eastpak bag makes the most sense for running from one set to the next?

I’d go with the Eastpak Tecum Cabin CNNCT Top. It’s compact, but it fits my laptop, hard drives, and camera gear, and it’s sturdy enough to survive Citibiking between sets.

Which bag would you choose to carry camera equipment?

The Resist’r Case. It’s basically a Pelican box with wheels, so I can drag my camera setup anywhere without worrying about it.

How did you know you wanted to be a director?

I started making movies and stop-motions as a kid and just kept going. I like solving the puzzle of how to tell a story. It’s the only thing I seem to be good at.

Who’s your favorite director currently?

Hard to pick one. I love directors who make big ideas feel personal and handmade, like Spike Jonze or Guillermo del Toro.

What does your travel style say about you?

That I pack light and hope for the best.

Two hours before a flight or get there just in time?

Just in time. Grew up with an eight-hour-early dad.

Emma Rogue, founder

EMMA wears JACKET by HENRY JOHNSON, SHIRT by OTTOLINGER, SKIRT by MELITTA BAUMEISTER, CHAINS by MARTINE ALI, and SHOES by NIKE.

Emma Rogue kept the momentum of her over 700k follower’s support on TikTok going when she opened a brick-and-mortor vintage shop, Rogue, in SoHo. The city is filled with great young minds with a love of fashion intertwined with entrepreneurship like her. While she may be sourcing vintage one day, she’s still making content on another, doing a balancing act that everyone in the city can relate to.

How did the initial idea for Rogue Garms spark?

I started selling my old clothes online in 2018 and it snowballed from there. Now I’m collabing with Ed Hardy and about to open my 3rd store in Soho. It’s nuts.

Would you call yourself a stylist?

Hell yeah. I help people get dressed for a living—whether it’s by helping my customers pick out a look in store, styling my friends for their shows, or making looks for Rogue campaigns and random creative shoots. I actually just styled my boy Gus Dapperton and A-Trak for their new music video dropping December 5th– it came out sick y’all are gonna love it. Other stylists hit me up a lot too and they’ll pull pieces from our archive for their clients.

Say you had a big vintage sourcing day, what Eastpak bag would you choose to carry it all?

Definitely the big Resist’r case in brushed metal.

What would you say is the best business advice you've received thus far?

Operate below your means. Never give up. There’s always a way.

How does your style and Eastpak's intersect?

I’ve been in a neutral phase lately, adding small pops of color here and there and focusing on textures and silhouettes. The sleek, futuristic vibe of Eastpak’s new bags complements my minimal vibe while bringing out some extra character— especially like the fire red or camo bags.

What's the best Eastpak bag for everyday wear in your opinion?

The Chewbacca backpack is tufffff.

If you could travel back in time and bring something back, what would it be, and what Eastpak bag would you carry it in?

I’d bring back my childhood pet bulldog Meaty and definitely put her in the Chewbacca backpack. She’d love that.

Sergio Estrada, hairstylist

SERGIO wears FLANNEL and SHORTS by LU'U DAN, SHIRT by POST ARCHIVE FASHION, CHAIN by MARTINE ALI, GLASSES by GENTLE MONSTER, + SHOES by LUAR.

The art of doing hair isn’t lost on Sergio Estrada who has a long list of big name clients from rapper Saweetie to one of the most notable Housewives Lisa Rinna to our Horsegirl cover story. While hairstyling wasn’t an initial dream, his love of the art form led him to the right place.

How’d you get into hairstyling?

By chance. My first career choice was baking. Once I finished baking school and worked in the field, I realized that it wasn’t my true passion, so I quit. A few years later, I knew I needed a new career, so I started to tap back into education. I landed on cosmetology school because my mother had attended as a young woman, and I thought maybe it was in my blood, and the rest is history.

What’s your earliest connection to hair as an art form?

Growing up, I didn't have the benefit of styling my own hair or having the instinct to play with dolls or girl’s hair (and now I do all the dolls’ hair. #protectthedolls), whenever I’m styling hair now I always picture my mom working on my sister and her friend’s hair for quinceanera’s and school dances. I was always so amazed watching her create such sculptural looks with only her hands and a few tools.

I was, however, a very crafty kid, creating things with recycled materials and at times making bracelets out of twine. I think that really helped me understand how to braid later in life.

When you’re heading to set and packing up all the products and tools you need, what Eastpak bag makes the most sense to be on set?

The Resist'r Case M. The hard outer shell and roomy interior make for the best bag for my everyday work use. I can fit everything I need for a normal work day, and it's easy for me to carry up and down my four-floor walk-up.

Who’s one of your favorite hairstylists currently?

My good hair, sis Sean Bennet. His work constantly inspires and never ceases to amaze me. It's very Dr. Seuss; he brings those sorts of fantastical worlds to life. He’s a true hair wizard and just a great person overall. We need more hairstylists who are creating art with hair that can be seen in galleries as art pieces - he's one of those.

How does NYC influence your artistry?

Living here, I feel like we have the pressure of creating and influencing trends that the rest of the world will look up to. I get inspired by people walking the streets of New York, all having their own unique style; it's a constant fashion show on a daily. My friends in the nightlife scene also influence my art heavily. I’m lucky I get to collaborate with them by either cutting their hair or styling them up for a night out, their dj sets, or performances.

Who would you say is your top inspiration?

90’s/early 00’s style, movies, and musicians. Celebs like Selena, Lil’ Kim, and dirty Xtina. Movies like Players Club, BAPS, and Bring It On. I grew up in the 90s, the era of chunky highlights, brown lip liner, and hoop earrings. My hair bag, which I’ve branded Bodega Barbie, is heavily inspired by that era. It's nice to see that style makes a comeback in fashion and, in this city, depending on the person, seeing that it has never gone away.

What’s your usual on-set outfit and bag combo?

Jeans or Carhartt cargo pants, a graphic tee, a baseball cap, and Nike sneakers. Bag-wise would be either my Willie Norris Carry bag, Luar Brooke bag, or Outlier Nexhigh suspension bag.

Fashion

PUMA x Ahluwalia

Ahluwalia is all about ethos. From sustainability to social responsibility, you’ve built a brand really grounded in its moral identity. How has this evolved over time?

Through my experience before I started my brand, reading about the state of the world, traveling, and seeing all these different experiences, I started to realize quite early on that if we're going to make clothes and create things, there are just better ways to do it. And so from the beginning, I've just tried to do things that are better for people on the planet, and create less waste, and make decisions through different parts of the process. It's not just about fabric and sourcing, but it's about who we work with and how we work with them, representation, and inclusion. [We do this] across the industry, in all different areas, with every business decision. For a lot of our set designs, we rent things rather than build things. If we've ever built things, we've then repurposed them. It’s about making decisions that keep people and the planet in mind.

This collection is described as a “love letter to African football culture.” What would the first sentence of that letter be?

I think I would say: “Africa is multifaceted.”

Africa is 54 countries, 56 if you count two that the UN doesn't, and it's a vibrant, vast, beautiful continent. I think that in so many different areas, Africa is not put on the pedestal that it deserves to be put on. With my work in general, this collection, and all my collections, I always want to grow my knowledge about the places that I'm from and the countries around where I'm from. It's vibrant. It's powerful. There's an abundance of joy, skill, and talent that I think that the world should pay more attention to.

The PUMA T7 tracksuit from 1979 has been worn by everyone from Pelé, Brazilian football legend, to Madonna, international popstar. It's one of those silhouettes that carries so much cultural memory. When you go into an archive like PUMA’s, how do you decide what should be reinterpreted versus left untouched?

There are parameters to these types of projects. If it was possible, I would love to have gone a lot wider, and pulled more pieces, because the archive was just honestly a treasure trove. I think it was one of my favorite experiences across my time of working with PUMA. I think it's been two years now I've been working with them, and that was definitely one of my favorite experiences. I think that the reason that I wanted to do a T7 is that it's so recognizable. And being able to work into an iconic tracksuit like that, an iconic shape that does have so much cultural capital and heritage is an opportunity. We’ll recognize that shape as a PUMA shape, but they'll recognize the fabrication as something that maybe feels a bit more Ahluwalia than the PUMA main line. So it’s an honor to be able to work into those heritage pieces.

Green appears on the flags of African nations more than any other color. What role did the color green play in this collection?

For me, the beginning of the design process was quite rooted in West Africa, particularly Nigeria. But I'm also Indian. Green is also on the Indian flag. So I kind of knew straight away I wanted green to be in it, just to represent really. Also, because I was researching different elements and looking at fans from different countries, green was so prevalent. But also, green, red, black, yellow, are quite Pan-African colors. And so I knew that I wanted to work with those colors quite a lot. And I thought, I'm really happy with the trainer. We have two colorways, and I knew I wanted one of them to be green. And I thought, people who are from the global south will feel the colors in it, everyone's gonna love the colors! People can wear it no matter where they're from, but I do feel like there is a shared understanding of that color scheme, and it was kind of an homage to that. It works as a detail, but yeah, it was definitely a key.

I’m really intrigued by the fact that the jacquard in this collection is meant to mimic the look of a stadium filled with cheering fans. How did you approach the process of translating an experience so kinetic and loud into a static textile?

The fabric has been woven into that pattern [rather than] printed with ink. It’s a slightly different texture, and it has depth to it, right? The surface is not entirely flat. Basically, what we did was, we took photos of fans in the stands of different games at different scales, and then sort of pixelated them and made them three color. We played with the scales of them and made a kind of tapestry. And then we turned it into the shades of red and black. When you look at the fabric, because it's a Jacquard and not print, it's got this almost static. The sound was static. You can kind of see that. And that's how we sort of translated it. I wanted it to be a fabric that's beautiful to wear. It definitely feels like there's movement within it, because the different knitted stitches are so small and varied in color that it feels like when you look at the fabric, it moves.

What kickstarted your love for fashion, and what keeps you there?

I've always loved fashion since I was really young. My mom was always very into what she wore and was always really well dressed. And I always found that I loved trying on her clothes, and I loved going with her shopping and things like that. I liked watching her get ready to go out. She always wore three red lipsticks every day. She doesn't wear that anymore, but she used to wear red lips every day and have a big blowout. And I found that quite exciting. And I used to live above my granddad's news agent, and he would order me whatever magazines I ever asked for. So he would order me all the fashion magazines. And then on the weekends I'd get to read them. He’d order me i-D and Vogue and Dazed and all these different magazines. And I was, I've always been quite a bookworm. I read them from quite a young age. So I think I was just instantly attracted to that when I was thinking of picking up magazines within the stores. Both of those things really kick-started it. I kind of always knew this was what I wanted to do. Actually, I don't really remember wanting to do much else. I went through a phase of wanting to be a vet, but it made me really sad. So I went back to fashion.

Fashion

HEAD GOLF: From Structure to Freedom

April 24, 2026

HEAD GOLF’s SS 2026 collection reflects a quiet transition from structure to freedom. Rather than relying on predictable sporting imagery, this collection centers on atmosphere and interaction. The brand invites a broader and more cultural perspective on golf, suggesting that it can belong to architects, designers, founders, thinkers and individuals who value aesthetics, detail, and sense of individuality as much as performance. By reframing golf through a softer, more human lens, the campaign unfolds space for new narratives and new participants. It is not about redefining golf loudly, but about allowing it to feel contemporary, creative, and quietly alive.

Creative Direction by Ka Ho Kam
Art Direction by Masha Osorio
Director Alexandra A. Garcia
Cinematography by Vladimir Potop
First Assistant Jupiter Gregory Jones
Second Assistant Fallou Seck
Digital Imaging Technician Alexandra Kuhn
Set Design by Taja Feistner
Set Dressing by Tomi Heady
Styling by Jensen Edmondson
Styling Assistant Andrea
Styling Assistant Polina
Makeup by Tatyana Harkoff
Hair by Kyle Malone
Hair Assistant Vika Osyhenko
Production Assistant Jenny Na
Production Assistant Linnuo Zheng

Fashion

Fabian Kis-Juhasz: The Idea of Constructed Intimacy

April 24, 2026

The Hungarian fashion designer Fabian Kis-Juhasz unveils his new campaign: "The collection is an iteration of the recurring themes, concepts and techniques that I keep going back to. I liked the idea of intimacy being constructed through tension, and how this is echoed in the construction of the garments. None of the lines and cutouts are traditional and in that way they feel almost random, but everything is engineered and nothing is by chance. I also like the push-pull between the jersey and athletic pieces and the more structured and controlled ones."

"When I pitched the collection to Bella she really liked it, but we never really went into details about what it means. I think it was just a very organic match. She came up with the idea of shooting with the bunnies and I immediately said yes. The references her idea conjured up, the colours of easter, the symbol of the egg, the Lewis Carroll of it all just felt so perfect. I also loved that she proposed them as self portraits. I feel like it harkened back to this idea of constructed intimacy."