Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Psychology Today thinks there's something sinister about the fashion world's recent obsession with reaching the masses. Instead of the usual story about how the internet has forced fashion to become more accessible from the bottom up, they argue that there's some top-down mind control going on here: "It seems the economic turndown has caused fashion's top ranks to organize the appearance of toppling its traditional aristocracy of the famous and influential, and the hierarchies of high-end luxury, as an approach to revving up fashion sales." [PT]