From Audrey Hepburn, Kate Moss, to Lana Del Rey, cigarettes have always lingered at the fingertips of those living a life of glitz and glamour. Even now, we are seeing the rise of a new type of smoking. Coined on TikTok as the ‘drunk cig’, Gen Z appears to be making a bee-line back to the silver screen.
It’s clear that Gen Z smokes less than any other generation before them; it’s been drilled into us since birth, not to mention the terrifying pictures on cigarette boxes and the big red ‘NO SMOKING’ signs that have become part of daily life. With all this said, we are still seeing the comeback of the so-called ‘drunk cig’ which prompts the question: is smoking suddenly cool again, and what is it making Gen-Z pick back up the lighters?
2020 might hold the answers. To me, 2020 is a blur of TikTok dances, whipped coffee, and desperately trying to become‘That Girl’. Characterised by perfect hair, clear skin and a radiant smile, ‘the clean girl’ cult exploded seemingly overnight. This trend, along with the wellness industry peaking at $6.8 trillion and the sudden obsession with at-home ab workouts (Chloe Ting I’m looking at you) suggests that Generation Z are interested in one thing and one thing only: health. Perhaps that’s why young people turned to vapes and nicotine pouches to ‘healthify’ their nicotine fix. But now, people online are calling for the death of ‘the clean girl’ and hailing the rise of a new superstar in her place —the party girl. Known for staying out late, fur coats, undone hair, smudged eye makeup and, the cherry on the top, the drunk cig —the party girl is the definition of fun.
It feels like we’ve seen this before. The rise of the heroin chic look in the 90s, the obsession with slenderness in the 1920s, and the hourglass craze of the Kardashian era. The recycling of people as trends has been part of life since people could communicate with one another. Is Gen Z’s new obsession with the smoking area simply a rinse and repeat of the past? Or is something different causing this movement?
I think we are seeing a new dynamic — a mingling of cultures. Whilst some herald in the new age of the party girl, the clean girl is not ready to die yet, she’s clinging on for dear life by her perfectly manicured nails.
With the number of people entering the London Marathon Ballot almost doubling from 2024, and almost being mown to the ground each time I step into the meadows by enthusiastic runners, the clean girl continues to encourage productivity even beyond the grave. And yet, the smoking area continues to grow — for some, it is their favourite part of a night-out, and it has become a place for connection: between people and values, clean girl and party girl.
Instead of the total destruction of one girl in favour of another (all be it a fictional aesthetic girl) can’t we allow the two to co-exist? Even be friends? Why do we have to destroy one to let another flourish? And, do we really have to choose between an occasional ab workout and the odd drunk cig?
Illustration by Lauren Tooze for The Student