A still life of movement & accumulation – The Airport Bag captures the tension between travel, study, & everyday survival, where objects shift from functional to symbolic, revealing the weight of a life in motion.
Collaborative project with Eve, Valentina & Agnes – Styling Class
This still life series, The Airport Bag, sits somewhere between fashion, fatigue, & quiet revelation. Developed as part of a collaborative styling project, the work draws inspiration from Melbourne-based photographer Lauren Bamford (https://www.laurenbamford.com/) & the French fashion house Jacquemus – two practices that, in very different ways, transform the ordinary into something considered, composed, & unexpectedly striking.
Jacquemus brings bold, playful minimalism. Bamford brings surreal stillness & precision. Together, they offer a framework, but what emerges here is something far more personal.
This is not just a bag. It’s a life in transit.
The images build incrementally – object by object, layer by layer – until the bag begins to bulge, spill, & almost collapse under the weight of its contents. Coffee cups, pastries, magazines, tangled accessories… fragments of movement. Evidence of a life lived between places.
Barcelona. Airports. Studios. Classrooms. Streets.
Eating on the run. Caffeine as currency. ‘Research’ purchases that may or may not be justified (but absolutely are). Aran knits from Ireland. Sale shoes that somehow become essential. The constant negotiation between necessity & desire.
Beneath it all – pressure. Because alongside the aesthetics, there’s the reality.
The unexpected bank block that throws everything into chaos. The attempted mugging. The physical toll – RSI creeping in from relentless making, stitching, constructing. None of it staged. All of it present… yet, so is something else. Gratitude. Growth. Connection.
This series captures a moment where everything feels full to the point of overflow, but not empty. Not burnt out. Just… expanded.
My head feels like this bag. Packed tight with new ideas, new perspectives, new ways of seeing. There’s a deepening awareness of what it means to live inside creative practice – not as a concept, but as a daily, embodied experience.
There have been moments that cut through the chaos. Reconnecting with family & friends across Spain & Italy. Tracing my maternal ancestry in Ireland & the UK. Meeting artists, collaborators, unexpected allies. Conversations sparked by what I wear, what I make, how I move through the world.
Even something as simple as being recognised by airport staff from a previous trip – remembered not for a face, but for a presence, a look, a moment. The Warrior outfit. The imprint of art carried into everyday life. That’s the work. That’s the point.
So no – this series doesn’t make me want to buy a Jacquemus handbag. If anything, it does the opposite. It makes me question what a bag should be. What it needs to hold. How it moves. How it supports a body in motion, a mind in overdrive, a life that doesn’t sit still. Lightweight. Modular. Durable. Easy to clean. Adaptable. Honest.
Design not as image, but as lived function. That’s where this project quietly shifts. From styling exercise… to design inquiry. Because somewhere between the croissant crumbs, the overstretched straps, & the layered chaos – there’s clarity. This is what I carry. This is what I’m building. This is where I’m going. Even if there’s no time to stop & breathe – I wouldn’t change a thing.
If this piece sparked something for you, stay connected. There’s more unfolding – more experiments, more stories, more work in motion. Share it, follow along, or reach out… the conversation is always open.
Larissa Sarina BAGLIERI 