Travel Light sees Dazed & Canada Goose invite city-dwelling creatives to venture outdoors on a trail of discovery.
In Partnership with Canada Goose
Painters, poets, and fashion designers have long looked to nature as a source of inspiration. Outdoors, the mind breathes fresh air, gaining new perspectives, making it the perfect stage for opening your creative eye.
To see nature’s unlocking of inspiration in action, Dazed has partnered with luxury outdoor outfitter Canada Goose for the Travel Light series, where we have invited creatives Michelle Li, Y.K.A Alex and Y.L.A Alan to get outdoors and try something new – from foraging for natural incense ingredients to soundbaths under the sun.
To ready our creatives, Canada Goose has outfitted them in head-to-toe performance wear, looks that we will be breaking down on Dazed this month.
Find out what our creatives discovered, and what they wore to do it, below. Watch this space for more Travel Light transmissions.
Incense making in Staten island, New york
Michelle Li is a stylist, writer, and art director based in New York City.
Her life and work sees her spend most of her time in Manhattan, an environment which can be taxing on a mind in need of constant inspiration.
To help provide that mental recharge, we invited Michelle to take a walk in the wilderness of Willowbrook Park, Staten Island, turning her creative hand to crafting incense from natural ingredients that she foraged in the woodland as part of the escape.
Travelling light and dressed in Canada Goose’s breathable Cypress vest, a comfy Muskoka crewneck, and accessories fit for a day of discovery, Michelle’s outdoor incense workshop took her on a trail to mind and body reset. Michelle’s discovery experience builds on Canada Goose’s ‘Live in the Open’ ethos - a promise to better help people thrive in the world outside, wherever that may be.
Shop the Canada Goose Travel Light collection here.
1. How does being in the outdoors feed back into your everyday life and creative perspective?
Being outdoors has really helped me with my creative perspective because it allows me to scale things back and think about the big picture, without getting stuck on the minutiae of life. It reminds you that there’s so much more out there outside the city.
2. Does your mind work differently in nature vs the city?
Being in nature, you get a different kind of sensory overload than the one you get in the city. There’s so much more to smell and to see. It's mind blowing to know it all comes from the earth. It has been a big source of inspiration for me. It’s helped me become more independent and find myself.
3. Is there a particular way you prefer to experience the outdoors?
I really love solo hiking. It provides a lot of solitude. It lets you engage and be present. You don’t even need a destination, just wander and explore. That’s the fun of it.
SONIC MEDITATION IN ISLE OF GRAIN, KENT
Born in Hong Kong and based in London, you may typically find Alex and Alan Yu papped outside fashion weeks in London, Paris and Milan.
As models and influencers, their careers see them hopping from city to city. In what is a glamorous – if intense – lifestyle, Alex and Alan find respite in music, which they describe as a source of meditation. Helping them to cut through the noise of bustling cities across the globe, for them, music provides peace and inspiration on the go.
For this next installation of Canada Goose’s Travel Light series in partnership with Dazed, we invited the jet setting twins on a different type of trip, exploring the power of sound in an entirely new context.
Taking Alex and Alan out of London, we travelled down with them to Isle of Grain to try out the singing bowl – a Tibetan instrument with meditative properties.
Dressed appropriately for their Travel Light adventure in Canada Goose’s lightweight Crofton and Garson vests, Huron pants, and summer necessities: caps and waist packs, Alex and Alan used the singing bowl to reset their thoughts; the bowl’s ringing allowing them to focus their minds on the “wind, grass and birds” around them.
1. How was your first time using the singing bowl?
Alex: I found it fascinating. The ringing, the resonance, and the way it melts into the sounds around you, is crazy. It made me realise why people meditate - it took me to another dimension. It was as if time froze.
Alan: It definitely gives me a new base and sound to design from, too. The texture has really inspired me - the detail in it is super cool.
2. How does being out in nature help you mentally and creatively?
Alan: Going out in nature as part of Travel Light, it really made me think from a different perspective. Mentally and creatively, it felt like Alex and I were way more in sync.
Alex: I learnt a lot. Feeling the energy and inspiration of nature is something I really enjoyed. We don’t get to do it a lot, but it’s something I’ll definitely be doing more of.
3. Does being outdoors change your patterns of thinking and solve problems?
Alan: Being twins and working together can be difficult. Our personalities do clash sometimes, even though we’re very similar. But being outside and taking time to think - it helps us to spot what to change and what to improve on.
Alex: Exactly. The outdoors definitely influences us in a positive way. It’s been super nice to work together in nature.
