by Atalanta Nelson-Smith
Trigger warnings: This article includes reference to drug use and eating disorders
Heroin chic is the appearance of someone who uses lots of the drug heroin. It includes having dark circles under the eyes, pale skin, thin hair, being extremely thin and androgynous features. It arises from the 1980s where the use of heroin was extremely high, and was associated with some runway models in the 90s, who were very thin from the high use of the drug and under-eating. It became mainstream among designers for the grunge aesthetic which was very popular in the 90s, but became less popular after many famous people died due to heroin-related problems and people began anti-drug campaigns. During the 90s, millions of people suffered from eating disorders, which were, in part, glorified, fuelled and triggered by the extremely thin runway models and influencers and people trying to live up to these unrealistic standards.
Recently on social media (Instagram, & TikTok etc) and the news, ‘heroin chic’ is making a comeback due to influencers rapidly changing their appearance to glamorise the heroin chic body type again. For example, recent runways have deterred from more curvy, body positive models to more skinny models wearing little clothing, such as micro-mini skirts, and ultra-low waist jeans, and Bella Hadid’s spray-painted dress. Also, some of the Kardashians (Kim and Khloe in particular) have become much thinner, and probably reversed their Brazilian butt lifts, reducing their ‘slim thick’ aesthetic. Furthermore, micro-trends on TikTok have led to sudden changes in current aesthetics and can promote toxic diet culture, eating disorders and glorify certain appearances (such as heroin chic).
Heroin chic is certainly not something to be glorified and its comeback is very concenring. Firstly, the use of heroin is extremely dangerous, addictive and deadly; in the 90s, during the peak of heroin chic culture, the AIDS epidemic was also nearly at its peak as the sharing of dirty needles led to a rise in contraction of AIDS and HIV. Furthermore, the overdose and death rates increased alongside the increased popularity and usage of the term ‘heroin chic’. Secondly, the popularity and glorification of unhealthily skinny bodies leads to drastic increases in the cases of eating disorders, alongside competition between women to be skinnier than each other. This also leads to reduced feminism as it reduces inclusivity towards women, increases effects of the ‘beauty tax’ (where less conventionally attractive people receive less options and are treated worse than conventionally attractive people) and turns our bodies into trends. This is extremely harmful as bodies are not supposed to rapidly change to fit the current beauty standards, and it makes body inclusivity, diversity and positivity into a trend that was only used for tokenism. Furthermore, it will especially affect the huge number of young people who use social media, causing many people to develop eating disorders (since the beginning of 2022, many ED clinics have had a significant increase in patients and people asking for help).
After so much recent progress towards raising awareness for women’s rights, increasing body positivity and increasing inclusivity, the return of a dangerous trend like ‘heroin chic’ is a huge step back in progress and will only cause damage to people’s health, mental health and society as a whole. Hopefully, the backlash that this returning trend has received will influence fashion designers and influencers to stop promoting such unhealthy, toxic standards, and we can move on as a society towards an inclusive, positive environment. However, if this ridiculous trend continues, and you are affected by it, please seek help and talk to someone. Our bodies are not trends and they are the least interesting part of us and definitely don’t determine our worth.
Links for ED support:
http://www.eatingdisorderssupport.co.uk/
https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/?swcfpc=1
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