Hello Gorgeous! Beauty + Life

Hello Gorgeous! Beauty + Life

Exhausted Beauty

Skip the look, play with the colors

Rachel Weingarten's avatar
Rachel Weingarten
Feb 10, 2025
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Hello, Gorgeous!

Remember the unfortunate '90s-era trend of heroin chic? Fashion Week just produced something similar: Exhausted Beauty. As seen at designer Meruert Tolegen's Fall 2025 show, the look includes red-rimmed eyes and pasty skin. Appropriately named Addiction Tokyo created the makeup and nails.

A heroin chic refresher

Back in the ‘90s, model Kate Moss epitomized the antithesis of glamazon supermodels Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, Linda Evangelista, and Claudia Schiffer.

In an era that spawned addiction movies like Trainspotting, looking like you were wasting away — and grooming yourself as such while dressing the part — was considered by some to be chic. But it was a dangerous trend.

Backstage imagery used in photo collage courtesy of Addition Tokyo

In 1997, President Bill Clinton called out fashion advertisements embracing the look inspired by addiction.

“It’s not creative, it's destructive; it's not beautiful, it is ugly. And this is not about art, it's abou…

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© 2025 Rachel C. Weingarten
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