Wretched Villainy
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2021–2026
1:52 · 488K views · Mar 12, 2015
A two-minute clip from The Devil Wears Prada in which Miranda Priestly explains how the cerulean color of a casual sweater traces back through runway designers to the bargain bin. It is a monologue about how high fashion trickles down to mass-market clothing.
HN commenters cite it as shorthand for how trends and taste trickle down, and sometimes post it as a reflexive joke.
4 comments from Hacker News
> Style is defined at the high end to a very limited audience and derivative variations of it are built on further derivative variations as it flows down the classes That is a very clichéd haute couture definition — a la “Devil Wears Prada - Cerulean Top” this video That trickle-down definition of style is relevant perhaps within some groups of people. I think that most subcultures have their own highly independent styles, and within that you have people with their own independent riffs on the general subculture style. Do you not think that many subcultures have their own style that isn’t derivative/trickle-down?
> It probably wouldn't be about this year's lipstick colors. Instead, the best movie [0] is about this. [0] this video
> it’s a lot of fun once you know what you’re doing It's also pretty useful if you have an open mind and no idea what you're doing. I don't really "do" fashion but I'm grateful for my cerulean sweater! this video
"... and that possibly every thought you have ever had and will have is a product of these influences." Obligatory "Cerulean Top" clip: this video