Experiments in Fashion

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.

A University of Minnesota marketing study has concluded that when women buy designer goods, they are engaging in complex intra-sex signaling about their romantic status and security. Or, put simply, that women buy Chanel bags and YSL shoes to tell other ladies, "Keep your stupid, ugly hands off my (wo)man." [Racked National]