Smoking in Fashion Shows: Is It Necessary?
The Aesthetic Appeal Versus Reality and Why We’re Still Seeing It in 2025
Christian Dior by Gianfranco Ferre Spring/Summer 1996
Smoking keeps showing up on runways. A cigarette hanging from a model’s lip, a puff just before a walk begins. Backstage photos feel like throwbacks: film grain, smudged eyeliner, a thin Vogue Cig in hand. It is the same mood Carrie Bradshaw carried through Sex and the City: always smoking, always moving, always being watched. Young, beautiful, and undone in the most cinematic way. A cigarette makes things more interesting. It is part accessory, part armor. That kind of imagery is hard to forget. And it is no surprise that in 2025, designers and stylists are still trying to revive it. At shows like Saint Laurent, the smoke feels almost natural. It is seductive. You might think we’re in 2002, but we’re in 2025, a world of clean girl aesthetics and countless health tips. So why bring back this little lung killer?
The truth is, smoking in fashion went quiet for a while, but it is returning because the chicness still works. The aesthetic holds power. It suggests rebellion without speaking. The cigarette becomes a visual shortcut for danger, drama, and nonchalance. It is seen as a sexy little time bomb, creating the perfect image when paired with a beautiful young model. Fashion thrives on contrasts like these. On camera, it photographs like attitude. On the runway, it reads like chaos, even when everything else is perfectly styled. Cigarettes tell a visual story, even if the real one is darker. No matter how iconic the image might feel, the reality does not match the romance. Smoking remains one of the most harmful habits we know. There is nothing aspirational about shortness of breath, premature aging, or addiction dressed up as elegance. This is the dissonance fashion plays with constantly: visual fantasy versus lived consequence.
LaQuan Smith Fall 2024. Photo Source: Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
Some designers claim they are not promoting smoking, that it is just a character. But the influence is real. Gen Z sees everything. While younger audiences are more wellness-aware than ever, they are also fluent in irony and addicted to nostalgia. So when a model lights one up in a show or campaign, it hits.
We are not here to police visuals, but we are here to ask better questions. If the intention is simply to provoke, can we not evolve a better way? Can we find a new symbol to channel edge and friction without literally lighting a kill machine? Fashion has never been about playing it safe, but maybe the new era is about playing smarter. Cool does not have to come wrapped in tobacco. There should be a more innovative language to communicate rebellion. We have moved past a lot. Maybe it is time to leave this one behind too.