BBC: rat summer might be over as we grapple with how dark it is at 4pm, but the concept of being a brat – “pack of cigs and a Bic lighter”, according to the singer Charli XCX – lives on.
There's Rosalia gifting Charli XCX a bouquet of cigarettes on her birthday, Addison Rae smoking not one but two at the same time in her music video Aquamarine, and the actor Paul Mescal saying he refused to give up smoking when getting into shape for Gladiator II.
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Despite this, singers, actors and influencers seem to be bringing smoking back into vogue - quite literally, with cigarettes making a return as on the New York Fashion Week runways earlier this year as accessories.
So, why are cigarettes being glamorised again?
Lucy, a 20-year-old university student, says she took up smoking recently because "it's just what everyone does".
Almost all her friends also smoke and she says it's more than just a habit, it's an aesthetic.
"I definitely think everyone trying to be brat has influenced people to start smoking because Charli herself says you have to have a pack of cigs if you really want to embody the vibe." » | Yasmin Rufo, BBC News | Sunday, November 3, 2024
EAT your HEARTS OUT Keir Starmer and Chris Whitty! Smoking is making a comeback! None too soon, either! As unhealthy as smoking might be, it is infinitely healthier than the alternatives of drugs. And far healthier than those unhealthy and uncool vapes, too. And then there's all the rest of the poisons that people injest today — just for kicks. People will always look for kicks, especially the young.
Starmer, you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of outlawing smoking. Especially for the young. Smoking is pleasurable, cool, sexy, and alluring. After all, who wants to watch a love story from Hollywood with the main characters sharing a vape? It doesn't quite cut it, does it?
In spite of any laws that might be passed in Parliement, smoking will not be killed off. Smoking cigarettes will live on long after our do-gooding politicians will be kicking up daisies! Long live pleasure! Long live freedom! Long live the right to choose! — © Mark Alexander
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