Le Smoking

Hollywood and fashion love to glorify smoking. Is it sexy? Seductive? Mysterious? Trendy? A sign of status? (As long as the person is good looking, of course.)

I remember the first time I saw Marla Singer blowing smoke into the camera with her blacked-out sunglasses on and her jawline defined, and I thought, "I want to look like that."

(via here)

(Lara in Interview)

(Sasha in Vogue Paris 2009)

(Ben in Naag)

(Yves Saint Laurent "le smoking" tuxedo, photographed by Helmut Newton; via wikipedia)

(Lily in Vogue Paris 2009)

The photo above is just supposed to get a rise out of people. "Oh my God! She's smoking and pregnant! Bad bad bad." I don't smoke, and I definitely wouldn't smoke if pregnant, but I find this picture - and this whole spread - comical. It's really about creating controversy (just like this editorial, which is NSFW).

Anyway, I find something very interesting about smoking and its occasional appeal. I think it's the James Dean bad boy image. What female doesn't love a man with a hard exterior, and then with her influence she changes him into a "better" man. This never happens, of course, but it's an archetype that influences society. The mystery that a James Dean character has — the "what motivates him? what happened in his past that causes him to be so hard?" — in a way, impacted the way women see themselves. Some women want to remain an enigma so men will be interested or, after the interest is there, will stick around to figure out what's underneath. (I'm being incredibly transparent here.)

(via here)

Picture I took down by an old dam in my hometown.

Dree in Numero #113 in "Blood Ink"

The last photo really doesn't have that much to do with smoking. I think I'd hang this (after I blew up the picture and framed it and such) in my living room or dining room.

(all other photos via fashiongonerogue)