Cigarettes: An Unsettling Accessory on the New York Fashion Week Catwalks

Is smoking seriously harmful to your health and that of your guests? Not for LaQuan Smith and Christian Cowan. The two designers presented their Fall-Winter 2024 collections at New York Fashion Week, which took place from February 9 to 14. Their models came forward with a cigarette in hand and an uncontrollable look. In the air, apart from the nicotine, was the memory of the 1990s and the life of its top models and jet-setters. Linda Evangelista for Mugler in 1990, Carla Bruni for Bluemarine in 1994 and even Kate Moss for Louis Vuitton in 2011. at that time, models dared to smoke cigarettes even on catwalks or in photos. Today, everyone knows about the dangers of smoking, and smoking is almost a taboo. However, it seems that these smoky scenes are not a thing of the past.

Swan woman

The fashion show at Christian Cowan was reminiscent of the New York woman of the 1950s and 1960s. It is worth being one of Truman Capote’s “swans”. socialists The New Yorkers of the late 1950s, on which Ryan Murphy’s latest series is based, Feud. Capote vs. Swans, she is fierce and sophisticated. Models in pantsuits, asymmetric kaftan dresses, and tulle gloves follow each other, holding a glass of wine or a cigarette at their fingertips. With their voluminous bangs and disappointed looks, they look like women who have gone out to dinner. Basque Coast A restaurant of French cuisine, cherished by the high society of the sixties. The silhouettes are modernized, however, with the length or length of some pieces.

This glamorous aesthetic is inevitably reminiscent of the current trend mob women understand the “mobster’s wife” that panics social networks; The epitome of a liberated woman who fears neither her husband nor her enemies, she positions herself as the opposite of a servile woman who is simultaneously boisterous, carnal and carnal. business women. She wears furs and lipstick, walks in stilettos and… Smokes, of course.

Alpha female

LaQuan Smith has more of a theme dominance than a cocktail. Latex replaces feathers, shirt collars are dethroned, and the body is revealed a little more. The only common points between the two parades are the colors (red and black), satin and tobacco. There was only one model parading a cigarette here, while Christian Cowan had five. Agreed New York Post , who spoke to Ohad Seroja, creative director of the clothing brand Rétrofête, whose advertising campaigns feature tobacco, the latter plays a decisive role in the concept of strong women. So those who want to present their dedicated clothing collection sometimes require a clear visual context. Like Pharrell Williams’ cowboys in Louis Vuitton carrying straw bales in wheelbarrows this year, or Chanel’s vacationers holding their sandals on a man-made beach in 2018, powerful women sometimes need a strong sign to emphasize their character. . Even if it means bordering on cliché.

A scenario that health experts are also questioning New York Post , at a time when smoking remains one of the leading causes of disease, disability and death in the United States. The NYC Smoke Free program estimated two years ago that 11% of New Yorkers smoke, including several thousand high school students. Despite their efforts and a danger that no longer needs to be proven, cigarettes still enjoy a glamorous, sexy and fashionable. In cinema, he aestheticizese. She accessorizes on the catwalks. Like the ghost of a in his smoke sex symbol and not lung cancer.

In the video, the trend of dark lovers invading social networks.