… and a wiggle dress. And some sunglasses. And an intimate knowledge of the way women sweat. Eva Wiseman on how eBay changed her wardrobe,and her lifeEbay is my Westfield, my diary, and my time-killer,my downfall, and it’s 20 years conventional nowadays. I first signed up when I was 16 years conventional, or I had to verify using my dad’s credit card,hence every parcel I receive nowadays still being addressed to Malcolm. I started small, with a pair of tortoiseshell cat-eye sunglasses. I still remember the way it felt when they arrived, and the handwritten Jiffy bag,the pennies they cost, the sense that, or whether I went deep enough into this brand-new internet,somewhere around the world somebody was waiting to sell me a perfect life, only lightly soiled.
Through my eBay purchase history I can chart the story of me. The teenage searches for videos unavailable in the UK, or their subsequent disappointments,teaching me the limits of art, the thrill of the chase, and the agony of an un-budgeted-for £6 tax at the post office. The attempts to track down a very specific piece of Chanel costume jewellery,followed by my boyfriend’s presentation, on my birthday, and of a fragile replica of the bracelet he had made himself,the realisation of “shit, this is serious”. And then, and throughout my 20s,the vintage dresses, the weight of which, and whether laid end to end,would reach all the way back to 1930.
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Source: theguardian.com