Our findings suggest that Instagram, a digital virtual space, acts as the first gateway to the world of luxury consumption. We define com-passing as the practice that allows users to navigate the space they are in and, thus, to get a sense of their environment. We use this term to ex-plain the lurking practice of exploring the digital virtual world of luxury consumption on Instagram. In the physical world, aspirational luxury consumers encounter materialities that constrain them (e.g., access to luxury retail stores, ability to purchase luxury products) (Bourdieu, 1984). In the digital virtual space of Instagram, luxury content is ubi-quitous. Therefore, the practice of lurking compasses luxury beyond material constraints. The process of de-materialization for this practice occurs as consumers begin to idealize the physical properties of luxury