If you had told me in 2022—the year all the Instagram IT girls were buying $18 Erewhon smoothies and getting up at 5 AM for their ‘Clean Girl’ routine—that the hottest accessory of 2026 would be a pack of Marlboro Lights, I would have laughed. We (read as Gen Z) were supposed to be the ‘wellness generation.’ We swapped cigarettes for Vapes, and then Vapes for Zyn pouches.
But then Charli xcx dropped the Residue music video this week.
In the final frame, the camera pans to a silhouette who turns out to be Kylie Jenner. However, she isn’t holding a lip kit or a bottle of Khy perfume. She’s taking a long, cinematic drag from a cigarette, exhaling into a wind machine, and looking directly into the lens. And suddenly, it feels like we’re back to the late 90s and early 2000s, where smoking is seen as okay and the norm.
The Brat Rebellion against Perfection
The resurgence of smoking among young adults is a direct reaction to the ‘performative wellness’ of the early 2020s. For years, Gen Z was pressured to be the most optimized version of themselves. We tracked our sleep, our macros, and our steps.
Charli xcx’s Brat era was the first major crack in that facade. Her definition of a ‘Brat’ was iconic: “A pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.” The music video was a rejection of the polished, airbrushed influencer standard. Smoking, in this context, is termed a ‘soft rebellion’ and the ‘unfiltered’ response to a world that feels overly curated.
The ‘Cigfluencer’ and the 10% Imperfection
There is a growing movement on social media called Cigfluencing. Accounts like @Cigfluencers on Instagram have gone viral by posting grainy, lo-fi photos of celebrities lighting up. Why does it work? Because in 2026, perfection is boring.
As I noted when discussing Pharrell’s ‘10% imperfection’ rule at Louis Vuitton, luxury is becoming more lived-in. A cigarette adds a layer of human messiness to a high-fashion look. We’re seeing this play out across the board:
- Dua Lipa: Just last month, she went viral for a ‘normalcy’ smoke while sitting on a sidewalk in Sicily with her boyfriend, Callum Turner.
- Jeremy Allen White: The Bear star has become the poster boy for this rugged aesthetic. His constant paparazzi shots with a cigarette in LA feed into a very specific 2026 aesthetic: the Stressed but Stylish professional.
- Paul Mescal & Sabrina Carpenter: Whether it’s Paul smoking outside a Gucci show or Sabrina being photographed with a vintage cigarette prop, the message is the same: the Good Girl/Boy image is out. The Edge is back.
When Kylie Jenner smokes in The Moment, she is shedding the ‘Billionaire Mom’ image and stepping into a ‘Night-Life Icon’ persona. In other words, it’s Vice-Coded Aesthetics—a nostalgic nod to the 90s indie-sleaze era where everything felt a little more dangerous and a lot more real.
The Nihilism of the ’20s
Looking beyond the aesthetic, there’s a deeper, darker reason for the comeback. Many young adults are leaning into what cultural critics call Aspirational Nihilism. When the dream of homeownership feels impossible, and the climate crisis is a constant background hum, the long-term health argument starts to lose its grip.
The logic becomes: “The world is messy, the future is uncertain, so why not do what makes me feel cool right now?” It’s a return to the “Live Fast, Die Young” mentality that fueled the rockstars of the past, updated for a generation that is tired of trying to save a world that feels out of their control.
The Industry Is Shifting From Vape to Vintage
Interestingly, the ban on single-use vapes (which hit the UK and parts of the US in 2025) has pushed people back to traditional tobacco. All of a sudden, vaping became cringe —associated with high school bathrooms and plastic waste. Cigarettes, by contrast, feel vintage. They have a tactile, analog quality that appeals to a generation obsessed with film cameras and vinyl records. Even popular Hollywood actress Lily-Rose Depp, a long-time Chanel Girl, has utilized this analog aesthetic to bridge the gap between French heritage and gritty modernism.
Final Thoughts
Make no mistake; there’s been backlash. Kylie Jenner is currently being slammed in the comments of The Moment for being “irresponsible” to her younger fans. And they aren’t wrong—smoking is a public health disaster.
But as a writer documenting the ‘aura’ of 2026, I have to acknowledge the shift. We are moving away from the Clean Girl era and back into the Shadows of the Avant-Garde. How long this will last still remains to be seen.
