Actually, it’s a subject with no clear conclusions. I could tell from my conversations with fashion house executives, like Shirley Cook of Proenza Schouler, that online shopping and information is forcing designers to be better designers — sharper and more competitive. But the landscape presents weird paradoxes. Candace Corlett, a partner at WSL Strategic Retail in New York, made me laugh when she pointed out that designers are all focused on their runway shows, comparing the collections to exquisite, “well-crafted sentences,” and yet, more and more, young women are putting their trust in peer reviews with bad grammar and haul videos shot in messy bedrooms.

-Cathy Horyn's "Girl's Rules For Fall"