This month, we’re proud to partner with Willie Norris, Brooklyn-based fashion designer and queer activist. Known for her viral text-based designs, Willie is celebrated by LGBTQ+ circles in New York and beyond. She creates for her community first and foremost—which is why we teamed up on a capsule collection of luggage that won’t be sold anywhere. Instead, it will be gifted to Willie’s LGBTQ+ community, equipping them with Away luggage for seamless travels during Pride and beyond. Read on to learn more about Willie, her work, and the inspiration behind her designs.

"I wanted a new way to look at the world... Being able to. encompass my life and my work in one thing."

Away: How did you get involved in fashion?

Willie Norris: My technical design skillset comes from learned experience and informs everything I do. I worked professionally as a technical designer prior to working as a creative designer.

What drives you to create?

WN: What I seek out eternally to do is just think differently about how clothes are made, shown, produced, sold, and incorporated into your daily life-how clothes can be shared and consumed in a way that feels a little more human, a little more logical. I always want to make people think—that’s what it boils down to.

"I wanted a self-made container that I could use to house all of my projects, passions, interests, and research."

What inspired this collection?

WN: I loved the idea of approaching the Bigger Carry- On as a "bigger canvas" and adding my inner thoughts to them-the thoughts that everyone has at. the airport. [It's about] full ownershipthat's my Away baggage. It's [also] a way to briefly encapsulate a little bit of the queer experience, with a little nod, a little eye wink.

How does your identity inform your work?

WN: [Transition is] so much less about gender, so much more about reframing my life the way I want to. live it and the way I want to be perceived. Everything. moved into place when I started to be true to myself. That's when I started finding the most confidence in my designs, in my process, in my point of view, in speaking up about things..

What's your relationship with travel?

WN: I love travel because I like to forget myself a little bit, and travel helps me do that. When you encounter a lifestyle or place that doesn't already exist in your head, you don't already have a judgment of it--it makes me. really feel like I'm alive, living here and now..