Why Does Smoking Thrill?

The cigarette has been used not only as a vice or social crutch- but as an accessory.

Supermodel Carla Bruni smoking in a Paris nightclub in 1991

People smoke cigarettes for differing reasons: it’s an emotional vice for some-perhaps due to work or relationship stress, facilitates socialising for others-on the patios outside parties with the share of a lighter. Both of these reasons have been reasons for me to light a cigarette in the past. I would smoke when I found school and school work too constraining, I enjoyed the solitude of the act- and also because I took myself far too seriously aged 17.

Why do cigarettes still have an appeal, when alternatives such as vaping exist that are used both as a vice and for socialising? This is because there is another reason why people smoke cigarettes that is not often admitted or acknowledged, a cigarette is an accessory.

Arguably, the vape could be used as an accessory indirectly and create an essence in it’s own right, but due to it’s modernity (E-cigarettes only being introduced in the American market in 2007), it does not have the same ‘affect’ that I will soon explain as the cigarette.

Intentionally or not, a cigarette can be used as an accessory in the same way a pair of sunglasses or handbag, or belt is used to vamp up an outfit, with the objective to embody the person we’d like to be. To use an example, it is common for many tourists (that aren’t habitual smokers) to light a cigarette with the excuse, “when in Paris”, whilst sitting outside a bustling café or pâtisserie in the French capital. Unintentionally in this instance, smoking is used as an accessory in the same way one would wear a red lip, to embody the chic French woman stereotype that is romanticised in media. Cool and careless and effortless about life (and health risks.) Smoking as an accessory to achieve this particular French essence is captured well by French-American actress and model, Lily- Rose Depp. Lily-Rose Depp (pictured below) in an orange Chanel mini-dress- with a Vogue cigarette. The cigarette implies that Depp is chic in a French manner, accompanying her cigarette with a glass of orange juice. Camille Rowe, leans back, care-free in an open-button white blouse with a cigarette poised in hand- the cigarette adds an elegance, and an almost ‘Old World’ feel that I will move on to later on in the article.

French-American actress and model Lily-Rose Depp

The chic-French look in this case that is trying to be attained with a cigarette as an accessory, is embodied by Lily-Rose Depp and Camille Rowe in the modern day.

When Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Gisele Bündchen (pictured below) or Carla Bruni (cover photo) lit a cigarette- it was glamorous and appeals to people now whom try and emulate the allure of the supermodels of the 1990s and 2000s. For the 90s supermodel themselves, backstage in couture with flutes of champagne in Paris, Milan, New York and London. The cigarettes as an accessory portrayed a wild image along with a glamorous one that also emphasised the notion that supermodels of that time were ‘other-worldly’ and could smoke and drink and party and still look like supermodels.

Naomi Campbell with a cigarette in each hand

In a similar, and less actively glamorous sense, the cigarette is also used as an accessory to emit a ‘rockstar’ feel. This is can be seen with Kate Moss in her Pete Doherty era, hanging out a window with a cigarette hanging from her lips in 2007 or by the Olsen twins or Alexa Chung (the-ex girlfriend of Arctic Monkeys lead singer, Alex Turner). The cigarette in this case illustrates a rebellious feel, an acknowledgement that smoking is terrible for you- but doing it anyway.

The cigarette may radiate an “old-world” essence, alike how Golden Age Hollywood actresses such as Rita Hayworth or Sophia Loren drew on cigarettes on screen and embodied a ‘femme-fatale’ serene calmness.

Perhaps the differing ‘feels’ that a cigarette can bring to a look is a sign of the times. In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General released the first report on the health effects of smoking. Prior to this, for the Old Hollywood actresses of the 1940s and 50s, smoking was simply a past-time that looked elegant on screen and didn’t depict a wildness or rebelliousness or effortlessness that cigarettes did for the supermodels, the ‘rock-n-roll’ , and the chic after the effects of smoking were discovered. Regardless, it is evident that smoking kills, but it is interesting to explore the thrill of it as an accessory.