Away Luggage Explores the Transformational Power of Travel

From FKA twigs, Jordan Hemingway and American Haiku

When FKA twigs directs an ad, you can expect sweaty, stylized physicality. We saw that a few months back in her work for On sportswear.

Now, the singer joins with Jordan Hemingway—who also contributed to the On campaign—for a memorably intense brand essay made in Bangkok.

Hyping Away luggage, the :90 was developed with American Haiku. It follows a young woman who attends a kickboxing match, where she enjoys a personal epiphany.

It’s extremely well shot, with barrels of rain … washing her psyche clean for fresh experience? The downpour ups the visual ante, at any rate.

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Note to self: When visiting Thailand, bring an umbrella.

“To make sure the spot felt as authentic as possible, the core crew arrived in Thailand a week before the shoot,” agency CCO Thom Glover tells Muse. “They followed the Muay Thai fighters in their pre-game rituals, even training with their coaches to experience what this incredible culture is really like,”

“Thongpoon, the victorious fighter in the spot, is something of a legend,” he says. “It was an unbelievable experience to watch him train and fight for hours at a time.”

It’s all a vibe. The journey trumps the destination, punctuated by the tagline: “Travel Changed Me.”

“We wanted to look at things differently. We never remember our most poignant experiences of travel exactly as they were,” twigs and Hemingway say in press materials. “They come to us as dreamlike memories, the things that stood out, that made them noteworthy. These are the impressions that stick with us, and become part of who we are.”

Ironically, twigs won’t be packing her bags for Coachella this year, owing to visa issues. Though the press coverage around her situation should boost the Away campaign’s visibility.

Her background in dancing and choreography “gave the film something extra that we hadn’t seen before,” Glover says. “She, Jordan and DoP Lukasz Zal would all be moving in around the camera, coordinating and guiding the fighters. The direction was almost like a dance itself.”

The initiative broke today, and ties in with the brand’s White Lotus partnership.