Dupe culture is our modern moral paradox. It supposedly democratizes taste for those without means — and simultaneously undercuts the livelihood of the people who created that taste in the first place.
Of course, dupe culture isn’t new; surely ancient in origin, or at least as old as the concept of the socioeconomic class itself. But for the past 15 years or so, the internet has fueled the knockoff industry at the speed of a 5-Hour Energy chased with a Four Loko.