- Heroin chic
Heroin chic was a look popularized in mid-1990s fashion and characterized by pale skin, dark circles underneath the eyes, and jutting
bone s. This appearance is also frequently called "Bag of Antlers " in common conversationBackground
At the time during which heroin chic emerged, the popular image of
heroin was changing for several reasons. The price of heroin had decreased, and its purity had increased dramatically.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.] In the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic had made heroin use increasingly risky. 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. 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.The heroin chic trend in fashion coincided with a string of movies in the mid-1990s – such as "The Basketball Diaries", "Trainspotting", and "Pulp Fiction" – that examined heroin use and drug culture. [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.]
Rise and fall of the aesthetic
This waifish, emaciated, and drug-addicted look was the basis of the
1993 advertising campaign ofCalvin Klein featuringKate Moss . Film director and actorVincent Gallo contributed to the development of this image through his Calvin Klein fashion shoots. [Calvin Klein special on the Biography channel] The trend eventually faded, perhaps in part due to theoverdose death of a prominent fashion photographer of the genre,Davide Sorrenti .Criticism and analysis
Heroin chic fashion drew much criticism, especially from anti-drug groups. [ [http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-her1.htm Turns of Phrase: Heroin Chic] ] Fashion designers, models such as
Kate Moss andJaime King , and movies such as "Trainspotting" were blamed for glamorizing heroin use. Then-U.S. presidentBill Clinton condemned the look. [ [http://opioids.com/heroin/heroinchic.html President Clinton on Heroin Chic] ] 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 baggy pants and backward caps will end up shooting people from moving cars," wrote Jacob Sullum in "Reason" magazine.Sullum, Jacob. [http://reason.com/opeds/jacob052397.shtml "Victims of Everything."] Reason Magazine (May 23, 1997)]ee also
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List of chics References
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