The use of cigarettes as an accessory in fashion images - Essay Example

The essay "The use of cigarettes as an accessory in fashion images" discusses the use of cigarettes in the images of fashion. This was done through the clever slogans that were used such as “There are many reasons to smoke now,” “We make Virginia Slims especially for women because they are biologically superior to men” and “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby.” It was also done through the use of glamorous-looking women and Hollywood stars seen smoking in the advertisements and in newsreels or films.

Women wanting to associate themselves with these ideas of desirability, independence or needed a means of gaining better control over their emotions would take to smoking because they were mimicking the activities of the famous people they see through these media representations. To see how this works, it is helpful to examine how cigarettes have appeared in non-cigarette-related advertising and reinforced these ideas. Cigarettes started appearing in advertisements early on as a means of emphasizing the self-reliance and desirability of the female individual.

Several examples of this can be found in the images collected in Farid Chenoune’s collection of lingerie images Hidden Femininity. One such example is the following image taken in the early 1900s. This black and white vintage photograph depicts a curvaceous woman in a lacy black teddy with high-cut ‘French’ style legs and a low-cut front that blouses mostly open over her chest. This cut emphasizes the curve of her hips and suggests the curves of her breasts.