Cowboy Killers and Couture, the aesthetics of nicotine.
Introduction:
Loud music, stained makeup, bruised shoulders—this is what I recall from a recent hardcore show I went to. Beyond the destructive chaos of the mosh pit and the ringing in my ears between songs, what I recall the most is the smoke breaks I took in between sets, swimming in the seemingly endless sea of black shirts and white skirts that caught my eye. The fashion on the sidewalk rivaled that of an Enfants Riches Déprimés runway. The people were young, rowdy, loud, and, more than anything, fun. They wore black, silver, and white. The only primary colors on their person were the orange filter on their cigarette and the ombre rainbow on their vape. Everyone I talked to had that familiar smell of burnt tobacco on their lips. I and a dozen college students, all belonging to their own separate groups, huddled together around a bench outside the venue and smoked Marlboro reds, Parliament greys, Flum Pebbles, and an odd American spirit or two. Before and after the show I would never speak to these people again but for a few minutes every hour, we moved as a group outside the venue till the end of the night.
While I no longer smoke as much due to my fear of addiction, I do keep some lights in my bag in case one of my friends wants to. Now, a medically minded reader may be rolling their eyes at that statement: “Smoking anything is bad for your health; just breathe air." First off, fuck you. Secondly, I am grown enough to admit that I like smoking—socially, physically, and theoretically—I'll smoke if I'm full, I’ll smoke if I’m hungry, I’ll smoke if I’m drunk, I’ll smoke if I’m sober, I’ll smoke in a house, and hell, I’ll even smoke with a mouse. In one word, smoking is fun—for now, at least.
This leads me to a greater point I’d like to discuss, which is the aesthetics of nicotine. Purely based on looks, why are nicotine products so alluring? Nobody rides as hard for other addictive substances as they do for cigarettes, vapes, or even pouches. While one may point to alcohol as a potential contender, I’d wager that even the most popular beer, vodka, or soju logo fails to be as recognizable as the red Marlboro ribbon or Joe Camel. Through my own experience and perspective, let us explore the allure of the following nicotine products in the contemporary fashion zeitgeist.
Vapes:
In the nicotine arms race, vapes have risen as a seemingly ever-evolving competitor to the trusty cigarette. The aesthetic world-building surrounding them begins prior to even opening the product itself in the smoke shop. While buying cigarettes often elicits memories of going to a run-down gas station and pointing to your trusty cancer box of choice, vapes are seemingly only available in designated stores. More often than not, smoke shops are clean, well-organized, and sell much more than just nicotine products. The employees tend to be fast and courteous; a trip inside the shop can sometimes take less than a minute if it is not busy. The fun part is gazing at the seemingly endless wall of colors and designs with names more tantalizing than the last and choosing whichever little plastic box one wants to carry for the foreseeable future. Once a person gets a vape in their hand, the box is smooth, the vape has a pleasing color scheme, and not to mention, the scent is more comparable to a fruity body spray over a smokey concoction of burning carcinogens. The overall aesthetic surrounding most vapes is far more casual and, dare I say, fun than its more mature brother. When I think of my experience with vapes, I imagine going to parties and passing around a colorful little box of fruit-flavored enjoyment. I recall going to smoke shops and taking a few seconds to gaze at all the colorful boxes and pastel color schemes before uttering a name that could apply to a smoothie as well as a vape. Truthfully, I can't imagine a person using a vape in a manner that is not "fun."
Vapes are to an outfit as a bright pair of shoes, odd-looking hat, or visible tattoo; they are potentially an enhancing part of the outfit but can also throw the symmetry of an aesthetic off tremendously. Picture this: It's a fall evening in Paris, and you and your other fashionable friends are roaming the streets near the Sacré-Cœur district. You are all wearing different colors, different cuts, and different designers as well. You specifically want to take on a more subtle and understated look. Head to toe, you are wearing silver Bottega Veneta wire frame glasses, a white Acne Studios button-up, a brown Ralph Lauren tie, a black Dries Van Notten leather jacket, beige Bode Slacks, and a pair of black Hereu boots to match. You look smart and preppy, but the leather on your jacket and the flair signature on your bode pants keep you from looking nerdy. Then, what do you pull out of your inner jacket pocket? An ombre red and purple Sakura Grape Elf Bar. In feeding your need for nicotine, you've essentially ruined your outfit for the 5 seconds it takes to inhale and exhale.
This brings me to the downside of vaping products. They satisfy an audience that is 18–25 years old, the kind that wears Acne Studios or Happy99 and listens to 100 Gecs or Lana Del Rey, but eventually, life ceases to taste like mexican mango or black cherry. On an outfit, a vape is either hidden or comparable to a charm on a handbag; rarely is it front and center. This is due to a clear design flaw in virtually every vape product available on the market: stylistic fatigue. One must keep in mind that vapes are a remarkably recent invention, as the design of those widely available on the market has only existed in the last 10 years. Due to this, virtually all vapes have come to adopt the same curved box design, matte ombre color scheme, and fruit mania marketing tactic. At a certain point, this style of product becomes repetitive and less of an innovation and more of a fad, and an immature one at that. A common criticism of vape products, besides the whole addiction part, is that their colorful and fruity nature clashes with the seriousness of many of their users. A vape is welcome at a party or in the hands of a user with a complementary style but becomes awkward when used in a serious space like a job fair or in the hands of a middle-aged lawyer.
While vapes are a staple of youth, their aesthetic obsolescence is well-known and acknowledged by all, even if it is just subconsciously. They are extensions of the young, colorful, eclectic, hyperpop-obsessed zeitgeist, and as such, there is no way for one to keep using them once a user has left this era in their life. It’s okay to use a vape as a young adult, but to be one of the men and women God put on this earth to pay taxes and still suck on a Sakura Grape Elf Bar, that’s a cardinal sin. Words of advice: either quit or buy a pack of cigarettes.
Cigarettes:
This brings me to what is still, to the dismay of doctors everywhere, the king of nicotine. I have truly rattled my brain as to why cigarettes still persist as the most aesthetically pleasing method of nicotine delivery; it can’t just be because of tradition, right? Rejecting the modernity of a vape and embracing the tradition of a cigarette seems to work against the constant boundary-pushing we see in the art world. I'm talking about the art kids who seem to go against everything their parents’ generation stood for; the mother and daughter who seem to disagree on everything yet both carry Parliaments in their purses.
I see the perpetual existence of cigarettes as a byproduct of the modern obsession with vintage looks and attitudes. I do not mean that cigarettes are inherently vintage or better than their fruit-flavored counterparts, but rather that the art world as a whole has always had aesthetics of the past to fall back on. After years of vape mania beginning with the introduction of Juul devices, the aesthetics surrounding vapes have hit a stylistic ceiling. Meanwhile, cigarettes have stayed the same since the late 20th century, but in a more timeless fashion. The packaging on a pack of Marlboro Reds has stayed the same since the 1980s, but in doing so, it has become iconic. People who don't smoke can spot a pack of reds a mile away, while the same cannot be said about a Flum. The very action of smoking maintains a sense of style over vaping, given its analog nature. You are quite literally holding a small flame in between your fingers; it is small but its shape is unmistakable; holding a vape, on the other hand, clashes with an outfit because of its color; vapes take up more space in a photo (holding a vape and a drink is an Olympic feat while holding a cigarette and a drink is bohemian); and worst of all, it is difficult to seem strong and independent while puffing something that shares its flavor with children's desserts.
Healthwise I’d wager that the enhanced health risk cigarettes hold over vapes actually serves as an aesthetic positive that outweighs the health effects in a fashionable sense. While self-care and being healthy are positive trends, the dirt, grime, and health risks of movements like “indie sleaze” or “heroin chic” are having their time in the sun as well. Danger has always been cool, from bikers popping wheelies on the highway to concert-goers getting black eyes in a mosh pit. Straying far from the PG, a parent-approved bubble of safety attracts many like a bee to honey. What better place to push boundaries and reject caution than the fashion world? In application, a cigarette often helps convey a message, where the outfit is the messenger. If you are in an all-black dress with shoes to fit, the cigarette emphasizes your cold mysteriousness. If you are in a suit, the cigarette acts as a megaphone to onlookers; it says, “Hey! I'm a busy person!” If you're in a knitted top, chunky shoes, and other traditionally “artsy” clothes, the cigarette tells the world that, as an artist, you are amongst the greats like Marguerite Duras, Pablo Picasso, and Yohji Yamamoto. In fashion, cigarettes hold a unique position to enhance virtually all forms of expression and arguably give them a sort of boost in status.
To add to that, there is an inherent allure to the maturity that cigarettes hold over vapes. As stated previously, a vape can be used in perpetuity as a fun accessory to an outfit or night out; in application, cigarettes do the opposite. They are not accessories for a manic pixie girl; they are a vehicle of solace for the exhausted philosophy major: a portal to a quiet patio adjacent to a loud party. While they may enhance an experience, due in part to their nicotine content, they often act as an experience in and of themselves. In fashion, this coincides with the more dark and avant-garde aspects of contemporary couture. Rick Owens would not be caught dead with a flum in his hands, but in a recent Interview Magazine article, he sings his praise for Japanese Marlboro Lights. The same can be said about Balenciaga’s Demna Gvsalia, Y-3’s Yohji Yamamoto, and even contemporary tastemakers like Playboi Carti. If you don't vape as a youth, you have no heart; if you don't smoke as an adult, you have no brain. When the pastels fade and the sweet lust for life is replaced with the bitterness of adulthood, one cannot help but crave the sour-sweet taste of burning tobacco.
To reiterate, the aesthetics of smoking cigarettes are timeless. I know people with Marlboro merch and Camel stickers who have never even smoked secondhand. Stylistically, I cannot claim that cigarettes will always be chic, but I can say that they have always been chic. This longevity comes as a byproduct of timeless design and a mature aura. So long as life gives a person a taste for solace, so too will they have a subtle taste for a cigarette.
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Quitting and bitter reality
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, quitting nicotine in all its forms seems to be the least aesthetically developed part of the experience. While vapes have pretty colors and cigarettes have timeless designs, nicotine patches, lozenges, and gums continue to have the persistent look of a doctor's office, not a club or bar. I read this less as a byproduct of the power of marketing campaigns but more as a reflection of the reality of quitting in general. It is not fun, glamorous, or chic. It’s difficult and forces the person quitting to acknowledge their raw humanity, far from the glamorized, hedonistic facade put on while inhaling and exhaling smoke.
I see this as an odd extension of the modern “self-care” wave, albeit with less than a fraction of the glamor of skincare or fitness. Skincare is a multibillion-dollar industry that benefits from celebrity endorsements like Pharell Williams’ Human Made line, and fitness has its own department of fashion design, from the accessible Lulu Lemon to even being the runway focus of some of Rick Owens’s collections. One can have their aesthetic salad and eat it too, as self-care in these realms benefits the user internally and externally. Quitting nicotine is the opposite; it benefits internally, but to reach that part, one must crawl through a gauntlet of suffering first. The moodiness, the headaches, the struggle to fall asleep, the loss of cardiovascular fitness, and more are nearly impossible to market or make aesthetically pleasing. No celebrity is rushing to put their likeness on a nicotine patch, and one is much less likely to take fit-pics flexing their nicotine gum. When the club lights come on and the fun is over, what is left is the insulting reality that life is difficult and that most things we do to make it easier have consequences.
Now, I and the rest of Garb do not, for whatever reason, especially for a reason as dumb as “wanting to look cool," encourage or condone nicotine usage of any kind. It is highly addictive, has awful impacts on your health, and, as an aesthetic crutch, it is third-rate at best in the grand scheme of things. While smoking may look cool, smoking itself is not cool. It is an aura-enhancer. Because of this, its status in fashion can easily be replaced by a number of products and accessories, all of which are not addictive or detrimental to your health. If you want to lean into your youth like an elf bar, may I suggest getting a tattoo, dying your hair, or simply wearing more colorful garments? If you want to look more mature and edgy, there are a number of jewelry vendors, makeup tutorials, hairstyles, and more that specialize in that. If you just want to add some spice to your mundane or depressing life, go to a park, visit your local hardcore show, text your ex, “I miss you,” or join a club. There is truthfully no reason for you to start nicotine usage for the aesthetic, doing so is an insult to real nicotine addicts, your doctor, and your basic intelligence.
Conclusion:
Dear reader, I implore you to ask your closest nicotine addict how their day is before you ask why they smoke, vape, etc. I am sure you are bound to hear a myriad of answers before they end with one consistent message: “Don't start." At the end of the day, I and Garb do not encourage nicotine usage of any kind (unless you pinky promise you won't get hooked). For as cool and a “vibe” as a pack of reds or an Elf Bar may be, and for as heavy as that first buzz may be, there are a million ways to elevate an outfit or a photo. Get a scarf, a cat, or a funny hat, but for the love of Garb, don’t start.
