Heroin chic
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2008-07-13T14:00:42Z
Bankbryan
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[[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 221932364 by [[Special:Contributions/99.240.253.53|99.240.253.53]] ([[User talk:99.240.253.53|talk]]) -- vague/unsourced
[[Image:Kate Moss Calvin Klein.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Kate Moss]] in a 1990s Calvin Klein ad]]
'''Heroin chic''' was a look popularized in mid-[[1990s in fashion|1990s fashion]] and characterized by [[Pallor|pale skin]], [[Eye circles|dark circles underneath the eyes]], and jutting [[bone]]s.
==Background==
At the time during which heroin [[Chic (style)|chic]] emerged, the popular image of [[heroin]] was changing for several reasons. The price of heroin had decreased, and its purity had increased dramatically.<ref name=durrant>Durrant, Russil & Jo Thakker. ''Substance Use & Abuse: Cultural and Historical Perspectives''. Sage Publications (2003), [http://books.google.com/books?id=vCYyDZE2umcC&pg=PA87&sig=xzjPUzu6zRMaT0kFMhWrN-1XaJ8 p87]. ISBN 076192342X.</ref> In the 1980s, the [[HIV/AIDS in the United States|AIDS epidemic]] had made heroin use increasingly risky.<ref name=durrant/> However, heroin's new purity allowed it to be more easily sniffed, snorted, or smoked, and the dominant mode of heroin use changed from intravenous injection to inhalation.<ref name=durrant/> These changes allowed heroin to find a new market among the middle-class and the wealthy, in contrast to its previous base of the poor and marginalized.<ref name=durrant/>
The heroin chic trend in fashion coincided with a string of movies in the mid-1990s – such as ''[[The Basketball Diaries (film)|The Basketball Diaries]]'', ''[[Trainspotting (film)|Trainspotting]]'', and ''[[Pulp Fiction (film)|Pulp Fiction]]'' – that examined heroin use and drug culture.<ref>The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. ''Women under the Influence''. Johns Hopkins University Press (2006), [http://books.google.com/books?id=SbjHya9CaZkC&pg=PA98&vq=%22heroin+chic%22&sig=DzyyOE2Ce5taJalcDXcEEsSVaug p98]. ISBN 0801882281.</ref>
==Rise and fall of the aesthetic==
This [[waif|waifish]], emaciated, and [[Illegal drug trade|drug]]-addicted look was the basis of the [[1993]] [[advertising]] campaign of [[Calvin Klein]] featuring [[Kate Moss]], who in 2005 was reported to be using [[Misuse of Drugs Act 1971|Class A drugs]].<ref>[http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16133522&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=exclusive--cocaine-kate-name_page.html EXCLUSIVE: COCAINE KATE - Mirror.co.uk<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Film director and actor [[Vincent Gallo]] contributed to the development of this image through his Calvin Klein fashion shoots.<ref>[[Calvin Klein]] special on the Biography channel</ref>
The trend eventually faded, perhaps in part due to the [[overdose]] death of a prominent fashion photographer of the genre, Davide Sorrenti.<ref name="reason"/>
==Criticism and analysis==
Heroin chic fashion drew much criticism, especially from anti-drug groups.<ref>[http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-her1.htm Turns of Phrase: Heroin Chic]</ref> Fashion designers, models such as [[Kate Moss]] and [[Jaime King]], and movies such as ''[[Trainspotting (film)|Trainspotting]]'' were blamed for glamorizing heroin use. Then-president [[Bill Clinton]] condemned the look.<ref>[http://opioids.com/heroin/heroinchic.html President Clinton on Heroin Chic]</ref> Other commentators denied that fashion images made drug use itself more attractive. "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 [[hip hop fashion|baggy pants and backward caps]] will end up [[drive-by shooting|shooting people from moving cars]]," wrote Jacob Sullum in ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' magazine.<ref name="reason">Sullum, Jacob. [http://reason.com/opeds/jacob052397.shtml "Victims of Everything."] Reason Magazine (May 23, 1997)</ref>
==See also==
* [[Chic (style)#The "-chic" form|Trends in fashion identified by the suffix "-chic"]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fashion aesthetics]]
[[Category:1990s fashion]]
[[Category:Drug culture]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]