''Fashion Smoking"

I hadn't planned on posting today, but I came across something that made me really MAD and I need to rant about it. Apparently Yves Saint Laurent sells cigarettes. I guess I'm relatively new to this concept and a lot of the fashion houses sell them as well.

But am I the only one having a WTF moment here??

I know that I'm not the only one who gets pissed at the amount of what I call “Fashion Smoking.” You know, this...

These pictures pop up on my tumblr dashboard all the time. If you have grungey fashion, you smoke (cue Violetta E. Don't even get me started on that...).

  

If you have super classy fashion, you smoke. Nearly all fashion shots that use cigarettes have a black and white feel. Why?

  

They're going for a nostalgic quality. I've studied enough film noir to know that they were all chain smokers. The 50s Hollywood stars were the epitome of classic style and fashion still clings to them for that. But they're forgetting something there... IT WAS THE 1950s. They chain smoked because they didn't know any better. They didn't have years of research and studies telling them that their cigarettes were tarring up their lungs and giving them some super cool wrinkles.  

I thought fashion was supposed to sell us beauty. They sell us anti-aging creams and dresses that are cut as flatteringly as possible to hide our "flaws." So why cigarettes? Why sell something that will intentionally age us?

Their marketing here is strategic. They're giving the box their label, so of course label-lovers will buy it (Who wouldn't buy $44 cigs? It's totally worth it as long as someone sees the wacking big YSL logo on the box). As I clicked the notes for this particular pic, I saw comments like “I'd smoke one of those, they're classy.” Yup, way to market to 14 year olds.

Thumbs up, high fashion cigs. Have fun with your winkles and smoker's cough.