Girls Carrying Sh*t
The Challenge: Aesop needed a way to show up culturally without relying on traditional beauty marketing, something that felt observational rather than promotional.
The Audience: Beauty- and culture-forward Gen Z and young millennial consumers in NYC who already engage with identity-driven social content (the kind of audience following accounts like @girlscarryingshit, a 395K-follower page built entirely around this idea).
The Insight: People are endlessly curious about the small, unglamorous objects other people carry; it's identity, unfiltered. Aesop didn't need to be the subject of the story; it just needed to be present inside it.
My Role: Independent concept development and experiential design, built around an existing cultural micro-trend (in creative partnership with the format's originator, Halle Robbe).
What I Did Designed a gallery-style activation in an unpolished, industrial NYC space: a curated wall of celebrity "carry" contents (Sofia Coppola, Emma Chamberlain, Björk, and others), an interactive photo station where visitors could document and print their own, and a growing print wall that turned the space into a living archive, with Aesop hand balm woven in as a quiet, recurring detail rather than a hero prop.
The Result: A full activation concept from influencer-only preview to public rollout, built entirely from a cultural observation rather than a brief, demonstrating the ability to move from insight to executed idea without being handed the assignment.
“Girls laying out their sh*t: An Aesop experience study of the things notable figures carry ft. icons like Emma Chamberlain and Sofia Coppola.”
A raw, gallery-style activation that explores identity through the everyday objects people carry. Set in an industrial, unpolished NYC space, Aesop acts as an observer, presenting curated displays of celebrities’ bag contents while inviting visitors to empty and document their own. Each layout is captured and added to a growing print wall, creating a living, evolving archive of personal expression, with Aesop products appearing subtly throughout as a constant across different lives.
Creator Collaboration
with Halle Robbe: an NYC based writer and creative who pawned the Instagram page: @girlscarryingsh*t.
What is GCS?
A curated Instagram page dedicated to posting non-men carrying sh*t with their hands. Halle has harnessed 395K Followers with 3K+ posts, being active multiple times per day.
How It Works
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An interactive experience exploring individuality through the things people carry.
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Visitors encounter a wall featuring images of items from people’s everyday lives, a celebrity exhibit featuring curated bag contents of popular icons, interactive tables/photoshoot to photograph their own belongings, and an evolving print wall.
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Aesop hand balm appears subtly across moments highlighting how the brand quietly intersects with everyday life
Invitations
The activation launches with a one-week, invite-only period, where influencers receive mailed invitations and PR packages to build early buzz. It then opens to the public in SoHo, NYC, a high-traffic area for tourists and beauty-focused content creators. Awareness is driven by Aesop’s social media teasers featuring #GirlsCarryingAesop and amplified through influencer content shared during the exclusive preview.
Exterior
Things Celebs Carry
3D displays of curated layouts featuring bag contents from icons and celebrities with strong fan bases, including Sofia Coppola, Emma Chamberlain, Björk, Wes Anderson, Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs, and Hudson Williams.
Things You Carry
An interactive installation where participants place their personal belongings on a clean, minimal table beneath an overhead camera rig, composing their own still-life arrangement of the things they carry. The setup captures a polished, editorial-style image, which participants receive digitally, with the option to contribute a printed version to a communal “Print Wall” and take home a 2.4oz Aesop Hand Balm.
