Mariah Carey arrived at Tiffany and Co.'s Blue Book Gala in New York City in a floor-length off-the-shoulder white gown that managed to be both sweeping and restrained. There were no dramatic cutouts or excessive embellishments. The dress did its work through silhouette alone, fitted through the bodice with a cinched waist highlighted by a…
Somewhere along the way, the idea took hold that looking good and spending money were the same thing. The rise of luxury fashion made it worse. When brands attach four-figure price tags to basics, it becomes easy to conflate the cost of clothing with the quality of style. Those two things are not the same,…

