I was in elementary school when I got my first AOL screen name. Naturally, my digital identity was a combination of my favorite clothing store and my birthday. The moment my parents gave me access to the World Wide Web, everything changed.
At first, AOL was mostly a way to communicate with—and, occasionally, be mercilessly bullied by—my elementary school peers. But before long, the internet became a creative outlet. My earliest introduction to fashion happened almost entirely online. I’d spend hours printing photos from websites to create collages of outfits, trends, and dream purchases I imagined my future adult self carrying and wearing.
In fact, my first discovery of the Louis Vuitton Speedy came through the now-defunct luxury retailer eLuxury. I was just 10 years old when the site launched, and I can still vividly remember printing its product images for the mock fashion editorials I obsessively put together. Looking back, it feels like an early version of what platforms like Instagram and, before that, Tumblr would eventually become: endless sources of inspiration, aspiration, and influence.
I came of age right on the cusp of social media’s rise. Facebook launched while I was in high school, though before that, there was Myspace. It’s strange to think that I can barely remember life before being constantly connected.
