Heroin Chic’: A Movement that Changed the Appearance of Fashion

TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains and discusses themes related to eating disorders. For any help or advice needed on the issues discussed, relevant links can be found at the end of the article.

The nineties were a time of change, difference and experimentation. From Britpop to Grunge, the decade was definitely full of excitement – something that allowed young, repressed teens to follow movements that, at the time of their creation, were almost revolutionary to their conventional society. These subcultures allowed teenagers to represent their image, something which defined them and made them unique to the barriers implanted in their surroundings. Subcultures gave teenagers freedom, granting them life-long friendships and family that they could relate to through talents, hobbies and interests. It was a rebellion against the structure of society. However, as great as this may seem, subcultures were vital for the actions, images and behaviour of impressionable teenagers – ones of which weren’t fully experienced or developed within life. You see, subcultures also provided a route of investigation that allowed the youth to not only experiment with the arts, but also recreational drugs that would later abuse the image of their pristine and hopeful appearances. Heroin Chic, unlike mentioned before, was actually a movement and subculture for high-end and high-quality models. It was a particular image that inspired and became popular throughout the mid-1990s fashion movement. Even though it is referred to as an image, many clothing consumers and beauty fanatics continued to follow the trend after it’s popularity; allowing it to become more of a subculture of fashion, rather than a recent season or development of style. Having said that, the subculture itself was still defined by a set of features, some of which were very similar to Grunge: pale skin, dark circles under the eyes, an abnormally slim frame, dark red lipstick, straw-like hair and a prominent bone structure. The image, to say the least, was something that was shocking, upsetting, yet very familiar to nineties culture. A s the name suggests, Heroin Chic transitioned into fashion due to the popular use of heroin throughout this period of time. Even though this may seem shocking now, it definitely was a common party drug at its time of release. With films like Trainspotting being released in this decade, it was obvious that the love of heroin was going to increase, especially with artists, like Kurt Cobain, openly discussing their usage of this fatal substance. With Heroin Chic taking inspiration from the examination of drug culture, it was undoubtedly going to draw upon elements of Grunge for the inspiration behind its style. From slip dresses to heavy make-up, Grunge was Heroin Chic’s first point of inspiration, focusing upon stars like Courtney Love to recreate iconic floral patterns, dark colour schemes and oversized fits that were symbolic of this nineties revival. As you can probably tell, Heroin Chic was doomed from the start. Not only was it criticised for its promotion of substance abuse, but it also glamorized the upsetting problems related to eating disorders. Even though this may appear to be a controversial topic, here at Quench Fashion, we believe it is important to discuss the history and, as you could call it, mistakes of the fashion industry. We like to touch upon the hidden topics of fashion, calling to light the changes that need to take place in order to make it a sustainable industry. Fashion is full of damaging impacts that have drawn upon the negative aspects of our society. As quite noticeably mentioned, Heroin Chic was definitely one of these detrimental themes. From photoshopping images to the online promotion of diet substances, Heroin Chic has changed the way we think about societal beauty and our very own body images. A fter the movement was made famous in the 1990s by a Calvin Klein campaign and Corinne Day shoots, Heroin Chic was explored by models such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Jodie Kidd and Jamie King. The selection of models showed off a waif appearance, resembling essences of an unhealthy and uncared for aesthetic. Attributes of which hadn’t been desired throughout society before, something that hadn’t exactly been seen within previous catwalks.

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