Low Swank is
a blog and newsletter
by Morgan West

Twenty years ago feels like a good-enough starting point: In 2005 I launched a street style blog and online art mag, then spent about a decade doing freelance brand strategy and visuals. I founded a 1.8-million-use hashtag in 2015, and later became a creative director-turned-global brand director for a boutique hotel portfolio. It was a ride, both online and off.

A visual genius – Refinery29
Tastemaker – The Washington Post
But do you have health insurance – my Dad

Throughout it all, I wrote about, photographed, and otherwise documented my life on my personal blog and across social. Fifteen years of hi-res internet visibility culminated in a series of unfortunate events. By the end of 2020 I’d archived my online projects, moved to the mountains, and started a several-year-long sabbatical.

As of 2025, I’m back at it. I’ve long considered the internet to be an outlet, a medium, and a lens; I’m 44 and still endlessly curious about how other people live their lives—it feels right to once again start cataloging my own. This is very millennial, I know, but some things simply cannot be helped. I’m a writer who writes, and writing should be read; may all our art be granted an audience (and I mean that sincerely).

And so: Low Swank is one woman’s perspective on…all of it? Being in your 40s, following curiosity, and knowing that the personal is, at minimum, pretty relatable. Subscribe for writing, links, and inspiration sent to your inbox twice a month, and catch up on past essays here.