Cigarettes Return to New York Fashion Week

Two designers used cigarettes as props in their runway shows during New York Fashion Week. Designed to glamorize and make models look naughty, the tactic helps renormalize smoking and explicitly targets women.

During New York Fashion Week, held from February 9 to 14, 2024, some models for designers Christian Cowan and LaQuan Smith held cigarettes in their hands during the shows. This practice of associating smoking with the fashion industry is old, but had become rarer in recent years.

Models with cigarettes in hand in two fashion shows

At Christian Cowan, no fewer than five models were given a cigarette as an accessory during these shows. A glass of wine was also slipped into the hands of some of them. LaQuan Smith used this cigarette device at least once during this Fashion Week.

According to Ohad Seroya, creative director of the Retrofête brand, the use of cigarettes helps convey an image of a "strong woman" or an "Alpha woman".[1]. This designer thus justified the presence of smoke curls as decorative motifs on a female costume, thus contributing to renormalizing the use of tobacco. Although an ex-smoker, Ohad Seroya also expressed his regrets about the loss of the sociality developed around smoking.

The use of cigarettes is said to be based on the current trend on social networks to promote "mafia wives" ("mob wives"), displaying the symbols of luxury while asserting their character and appearing as smokers[2]This trend would also be reinforced by TV series set in the 1950s and 1960s and featuring many scenes of smoking, such as Feud: Capote vs The Swans or even Mad Men.

Glamorization of tobacco products

The use of the cigarette image in the fashion sector dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. By developing its production capacity, the tobacco industry sought to expand its market through advertising and promotional operations.[3]. Initially thought to evoke elegance, tobacco quickly became associated with sensuality in advertisements and Hollywood films. targeting women by manufacturers has, for its part, associated smoking with ideas of independence, seduction and thinness. So many springs that are regularly activated by manufacturers, in order to give tobacco products, and in particular cigarettes, the image of "cool" products. To achieve this and make smoking a social norm, the tobacco industry has long invested in vectors of social influence such as the sectors of fashion, culture, sport and today social networks.

THE glamour associated with tobacco and smoke never mentions the health consequences of smoking represented through health warnings, recalling in particular that tobacco kills one in two consumers. In addition to the many pathologies caused by tobacco, there are the consequences on premature aging of the skin, hormonal aging, hair or the appearance of cysts, very far from the world of beauty[4].

Keywords: fashion, Christian Cowan, LaQuan Smith, New York Fashion Week, glamor

©Tobacco Free Generation

M.F.

[1] Kato B, Steinberg B, Is smoking stylish again? Experts sound alarm as cigarettes become a trend on NYFW runways, New York Post, published February 19, 2024, accessed February 21, 2024.

[2] Fox S, Cigarettes, a disturbing accessory on the catwalks of New York Fashion Week, Le Figaro, published February 19, 2024, consulted February 21, 2024.

[3] Proctor R, Golden Holocaust, The Tobacco Industry Conspiracy, Paris, Ed. Equateurs, 2014.

[4] Skin and tobacco, the dermatologist informs you, National Union of Dermatologists-Venereologists, consulted on February 21, 2024.