Is Smoking Stylish Again? Experts Sound Alarm as Cigarettes Become a Trend on NYFW Runways

NEW YORK POST: This is a real drag.

Despite years of campaigning against big tobacco, it seems that cigarettes are reclaiming their chic status à la Kate Moss, appearing as accessories on New York Fashion Week runways in the wake of the “mob wife” aesthetic and an early aughts “indie sleaze” revival.

This week, multiple models meandered down the Christian Cowan catwalk with a cigarette teetering between their fingers in a collection depicting the elevated glamour of the rich housewife. Then, just days later, a model wearing a deep-cut power suit dangled a dart from her hand on LaQuan Smith’s runway, oozing corporate sex appeal with garments that doubled as both boardroom and club wear, an ode to “office sirens,”he said.

The Post reached out to reps for Cowan and Smith for comment as to why they included cigs on the runway but Retrofête’s creative director Ohad Seroya said cigarettes played a “big part” in his designs crafted for the “alpha woman.”

He debuted a collection at The Plaza Hotel last weekend, showcasing red hot power suits, slinky evening gowns and luxurious fur coats reminiscent of a chain-smoking, “Mad Men” persona — with one model in particular in a navy power suit adorned with wisps of smoke.

Seroya told The Post that the powerful woman theme was, in part, inspired by his “strong” mother, who was a smoker. And while the designer said he’s a former smoker, he made it clear that he did not support the habit, but rather, appreciated the human “connection” of a smoke break.

“When you come to somebody and [are] asking for a lighter and creating a conversation with you outside,” said Seroya. “And this is why I miss smoking.” » | Brooke Kato and Brooke Steinberg | Friday, February 16, 2024

Eat your heart out, Rishi! The habit you love to hate is making a comeback in stylish circles. Well, well! Who would have thought?

Neither you nor any other politician will ever manage to stop people smoking. The pleasure is far too great and the allure of a handsome gentleman/beautiful lady smoking a cigarette far too sexy to stamp out.

The prohibition of alcohol was tried in the States in years gone by; between 1920 and 1933, to be precise. But the Prohibition didn’t work out too well, did it? So the silly law had to be repealed. A prohibition on smoking will not work out very well either. Silly laws like that are tried by greenhorns in politics who understand little about human behaviour.

If you are wise, Mr Sunak, you’ll abandon the idea of an incremental smoking ban. It’s a dumb idea which is bound to fail. If you really want to help children in the UK in 2024, make sure their parents get enough money to put quality food on the table to be able to provide their children with the nutrition they need for healthy development (without having to go to food banks). Make sure they have access to well-qualified NHS dentists when their teeth need attention — most parents cannot afford private dentistry. Make sure they have quick access to good, well-qualified doctors when they are sick. And, very importantly, make sure that children have access to good schools. Education is key to social mobility. Most parents do not earn enough to send their children to top, private, élite schools, affordable only to the über-privileged few; instead, they have to rely on state provision for their children. Until relatively recently, they could.

These are the things which will help children grow up to be fine, upright and healthy citizens, not some authoritarian, idealistic, un-Conservative, undemocratic, unpoliceable smoking ban which will deny future generations the pleasure of smoking (if they so wish to take up the habit), and take their democratic rights away from them. Nevertheless, it will still enable them to indulge in all manner of dreadful substances which are far, far worse for their long-term health. – © Mark Alexander

Think Style! Think 80s Armani!

Quintessentially Armani
With many thanks to permanentstyle.com on Pinterest for this superb exemplar of cool elegance from the 80s.
Permanent Style »

1911: When New Yorkers Dressed with Style and Elegance

Click here to see elegance on the streets of New York.

Saloppe und stilvoll

Casual and stylish / Décontracté et élégant
Besten Dank an Permanent Style auf Pinterest für dieses schöne Bild.

Elizabeth II : une certaine idée du style

LE MONDE : La souveraine britannique a fait appel durant toute sa vie à des couturiers inconnus du grand public, offrant au fil des années une garde-robe de plus en plus chamarrée, et dont les chapeaux furent la grande attraction.

La reine Elizabeth II lors d’une garden-party à Buckingham Palace, le 3 juin 2014. YUI MOK / AFP
En soixante-dix ans de règne, la garde-robe de la souveraine aurait eu le temps d’évoluer. Mais ce qui la caractérise, c’est plutôt sa stabilité : elle n’a pas suivi la mode dans ses mutations, quand cette dernière est devenue une industrie portée par des marques de « fast-fashion » efficaces et des grands noms de luxe qui vendent du rêve. Elizabeth II est montée sur le trône dans les années 1950, décennie où la couture éclipsait encore le prêt-à-porter et où, pour se vêtir, il fallait coudre ses vêtements soi-même ou faire appel à une couturière. Elle est toujours restée fidèle à ce fonctionnement, alors même qu’autour d’elle les tenues siglées Givenchy ou Zara de Meghan Markle et de Kate Middleton faisaient l’objet d’interminables débats dans la presse ou sur les réseaux sociaux. » | Pa Elvire von Bardeleben | vendredi 9 septembre 2022

Unadulterated Style

Cutting a dash at the beach!
Many thanks to Alexander Daas, Opticians, Los Angeles on Pinterest for this beautiful image.

A Man Smoking a Cigarette Has That Indescribable Something about Him, That Certain je ne sais quoi

Many thanks to Robert Jones Home LLC on Pinterest for this interesting, rather stylish and zeitgeist-busting image.

A Gentleman Puttin’ on the Style

… double-breasted style
With thanks to styleforum.net on Pinterest for this super photo.

Lederhosen, Stil und Liebe.

Besten Dank an Martin Niggemann auf Pinterest fürs schöne Bild.

Puttin’ on the Style

Many thanks to Charlidos on Pinterest and Tumblr for this great and stylish photo of Tom Hardy.

Slob 'Culture'
TIMESONLINE: Mothers wearing pyjamas on the school run prove that the codes that once governed how we got dressed in the morning have all but disappeared. But it is still disrespectful to make no effort, says our correspondent

Times2 is confused. We’re on the phone to Vogue magazine and Vogue magazine is telling us that the whole country is smartening up: “The ladylike look is back,” Vogue says. “Even jeans are sort of passé now.”

But what about pyjamas? Now Vogue is confused. Times2 explains that last week a headmaster publicly appealed to women who take their children to and from school while still dressed in nightwear to show some respect. “People don’t go to see a solicitor, bank manager or doctor dressed in pyjamas, so why do they think it’s OK to drop their children off at school dressed like that?” Joe McGuinness, the principal of St Matthew’s primary in Belfast, told his local paper.

And bear in mind that this latest sartorial bombshell comes on top of a lot of other things: on top of the revelation by the Lonely Planetguide to Great Britain that we are known the world over for our slovenliness; on top of the fact that even the Savoy has given in to the cult of comfort-dressing, which means that guests are now allowed to pad about in the legendary hotel’s foyer in flip-flops or shorts; on top of the fact that we’re on the brink of another record-breakingly hot summer – a summer that, because of global warming, may decide never to go away – and we all know what happens to the way people in Britain dress when the temperature skyrockets. Isn’t the pyjama plague just another sign that we have become a nation of irredeemable slobs? A casual affair (more) By Stephanie Marsh

Mark Alexander