Fashion kid turned internet person turned strategist, somehow still adding chapters.
When we first met, I was laced into a 16-inch corset, wearing waist-length blue waves and fashion inspired by Lee Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Galliano-era Dior, Atom Age, Skin Two and Vivienne Westwood…Jean Paul Gaultier..I go on…
When the Daily Mail asked what I had to say to people who thought I didn’t look “normal,” my answer was simple:
Fashion was the first place I learned that fantasy could exist in reality.
But before the editorials, the runways, and the references, there was my mother.
She was the first person who taught me how to bring imagination into the physical world.
I watched her sketch gowns and fashion looks, then followed her through fabric stores as she chose the materials that would become something entirely new. Later, I watched her transform fabric and thread into bespoke pieces of art.
As I got older, I started sketching the clothes I wanted to wear, and she would help me bring them to life. Together, we created pieces inspired by the designers I loved for events, photoshoots, and a wardrobe filled with things I couldn’t find on a rack.
I’m endlessly grateful for her. She is my biggest inspiration and motivation. She gave me one of my earliest lessons in world-building: an idea could become a silhouette, a mood, a character, a body in motion.
Fashion was never just about clothes to me. It was a way to tell people who you were before you ever said a word. What you stood for. What you worshipped. What world you wanted to live in.
I fell in love with fashion editorials because they understood that. Grace Coddington, Steven Meisel, Tim Walker — they weren’t just making beautiful images. They were building universes.
They taught me that the difference between a good story and a great one is usually hiding in the details.
That love of storytelling followed me into modeling.
Then Tumblr arrived. Then Instagram.
Suddenly, I had somewhere to put my thoughts, references, images, and strange little world. I was posting from New York and somehow reaching people in Japan, the UK, Germany, and places I hadn’t even been yet.
The internet opened the world to me before I fully understood what was happening.
I was 4’11”, curvy, alternative, and repeatedly told I didn’t fit what a “real” model was supposed to be.
But just because someone else can’t see the vision doesn’t mean I have to adopt their reality as mine.
So I bought a work light from Home Depot, propped my phone on a stack of books, and started bringing my imagination to life.
I worked with photographers who could execute my art direction. I learned how to be talent, producer, director, stylist, and the one making sure every detail landed. I learned how to make an image feel intentional long before I had the official title for it.
Funny how often the insult becomes the industry.
What people dismissed as unserious became an entirely new media economy — and eventually, a major part of how brands communicate.
I’ve always had a good eye for what’s coming next. That’s probably why marketing made sense to me.
I didn’t just want to be seen by the internet. I wanted to understand how it moved.
I started working in fashion and helped build a brand’s social presence before most people understood social media as a real career. Eventually, I went back to FIT and began my next chapter behind the camera.
The internet raised me. Experience refined me.
What I learned quickly is that social moves faster than any curriculum. By the time something makes it into a textbook, the platform has already changed its mind.
That’s what I love about it.
It shifts, mutates, misbehaves, and rewards people who know how to pay attention. There is always a new puzzle to solve, a new language to learn, and a new way to connect with people.
Over the years, that curiosity became a career in social strategy, creative direction, storytelling, and building digital worlds for brands.
The polished version of that story — the campaigns, teams, strategy, results, and professional receipts — lives in my work portfolio.
After years of shaping stories from behind the scenes, I felt the itch again.
To step back in front of the camera.
But this time, I wasn’t coming back as the same person who left.
I was bringing the strategist, the director, the model, the internet kid, and the world-builder into the same room.
Years behind the camera changed the way I see what happens in front of it. I understand the image, but I also understand the idea behind it, the audience it needs to reach, and the story it needs to tell.
Apparently I went full circle.
These days, I’m creating again, writing again, shooting again, experimenting again, and building this little corner of the internet into something that feels entirely mine.
So here I am.
Still building worlds.
Still telling stories.
And inviting you inside.
This is where the rabbit holes live. Beauty, fashion, culture, personal essays, New York, and whatever else I can’t stop thinking about long enough to leave alone. Some things are useful, some are deeply subjective, and some simply needed somewhere to go.
Sidekicks, Tumblr and the Inevitability of Cringe: Making the Case for Zoomers to Embrace It
Why “Mean” Women Get the Respect Nice Girls Beg For
I Finally Watched Obsession, and Men Continue to Be the Horror
SKIMS Look for Less: Best Amazon Dupes for Snatched Basics
Rewatching The Sopranos
Eric Stanton & The History of The Bizarre Underground
All of Wargasm UK discography
Cold Brew Nitro with Pumpkin Spice Cream
COSRX The Blue Copper Peptide Bakuchiol Serum
Building my journal and planner ecosystem 😵💫
New York in the Fall is almost here
Leatherwork – how hard could it be? 😅
Somewhere along the way, being chronically online turned into a career in social strategy, creative direction, and end-to-end content leadership. I’ve spent the past decade owning the full process — from strategy and planning through production, publishing, optimization, and performance.
Notes From the Lair is where I send the things I’m reading, wearing, watching, buying, thinking about, and occasionally overthinking. A little more personal than the blog, a little more curated than social, and sent every other week.
Consider this your invitation to the secret society.
© 2026 Kelly Lee Dekay. All rights reserved.
