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Heroin chic is a style popularized in early-1990s fashion and characterized by Pallor, dark circles underneath the eyes, emaciated features, androgyny and stringy hair—all traits associated with abuse of heroin or other drugs. American supermodel Gia Carangi is remembered for being the originator of the trend. Heroin chic was partly a reaction against the healthy and vibrant look of leading 1980s models such as Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson, and Claudia Schiffer. A 1996 article in the Los Angeles Times stated that the fashion industry had "a Nihilism vision of beauty" that was reflective of heroin addiction.
Leading grunge band Alice in Chains had a song "God Smack", which included the line "stick your arm for some real fun", a reference to injecting heroin. Seattle grunge musicians known to use heroin included Kurt Cobain, who was using the drug very frequently around the time of his death; "Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone overdosed on heroin in 1990"; "Stefanie Sargent of 7 Year Bitch who died of an overdose of the same opiate in 1992, along with Layne Staley of Alice in Chains who publicly detailed his battles with heroin...". Mike Starr of Alice in Chains and Jonathan Melvoin from The Smashing Pumpkins also died from heroin. After Cobain's death, his "...widow, singer Courtney Love, characterized Seattle as a drug mecca, where heroin is easier to get than in San Francisco or Los Angeles."
The trend eventually faded, in part due to the heroin-related death of prominent fashion photographer Davide Sorrenti in 1997. Journalist Amy Spindler described Sorrenti's death as "like a small bomb going off", extinguishing public denial of heroin use in the fashion world. The term heroin chic itself was coined at Sorrenti's wake by editor Ingrid Sischy, who commented: "This is heroin, this isn't chic. This has got to stop, this heroin chic." After his death, Sorrenti's mother, Francesca Sorrenti, led a public campaign against the use of heroin in fashion, after which the promotion of heroin chic subsided. Following Sorrenti's death, President Bill Clinton commented "Fashion photos in the last few years have made heroin addiction seem glamorous and sexy and cool, and as some of the people in those images start to die now, it’s become obvious that is not true. Glorification of heroin is not creative, it's destructive. It's not beautiful. It's ugly. And this is not about art. It's about life and death. And glorifying death is not good for any society".
In 1999, Vogue dubbed Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen "The Return of the Sexy Model" and the end of the heroin chic era.
In 2022, a New York Post article hypothesized the return of the Heroin Chic movement, noting that many stars seem to be getting slimmer, and underlining how the phenomenon grew on social networks through the hashtag #thinspo, banned from TikTok for Pro-ana. The Guardian responded by distinguishing "too-thin" fashion movements from the Heroin Chic trend, defining the latter as a negative by-product of the 1990s culture.
Rise and fall
This , emaciated look was the basis of the 1993 advertising campaign of Calvin Klein for his perfume Obsession featuring Kate Moss. Film director and actor Vincent Gallo contributed to the development of the image through his Calvin Klein fashion shoots.Calvin Klein special on the Biography channelPaul Devlin (July 14, 2011). ""Obsession" from Calvin Klein". devlinpix.com. Retrieved 2018-12-31. .
Criticism and analysis
Heroin chic fashion drew much criticism and scorn, especially from anti-drug groups. Fashion designers, models such as Kate Moss and Jaime King, and movies such as Trainspotting were blamed for glamorizing heroin use. Then-U.S. president Bill Clinton condemned the look, calling it "destructive" and a "glorification of heroin". Other commentators denied that fashion images made drug use itself more attractive. Jacob Sullum wrote in Reason magazine that "There is no reason to expect that people attracted to the look promoted by Calvin Klein and other advertisers... will also be attracted to heroin, any more than suburban teen-agers who wear baggy pants and backward caps will end up shooting people from moving cars."Sullum, Jacob. "Victims of Everything." Reason Magazine (May 23, 1997)
See also
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