Exhausted Beauty
Skip the look, play with the colors
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.
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 about life and death,” President Clinton said about heroin chic.
An ugly remnant of the ‘90s
At that time, fashion magazines and nascent social media embraced looking wasted as desirable. Perhaps in direct response, body positivity became a battle cry for many who learned to own their curves and jiggles in the decades that followed. In a hopeful sign, the hashtag #thinspo was recently banned on both Instagram and TikTok.
More recently, though, everyone’s Ozempic era kicked in, and being rail thin became the idealized look yet again. Or did it ever leave? After the Golden Globes, the disturbing idea of heroin chic as a desired ideal was once again part of a global conversation.
Will thin always be in?
In 2016, an article in the Daily Mail explained why the trend of being super skinny would never go away. The idea behind this declaration was that the poorest in society would continue to gain weight by eating affordable, nutrient-poor food. The article affirms that designers believe thinness signifies wealth, a fascinating cultural contradiction to the zaftig female form glorified by 16th-century Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.
Fat was once where it was at
The Rubenesque female form, as it was called, was plump in all the right places. Today’s disproportionate oversized implants sometimes create extreme exaggerations of the hourglass shape. In the Baroque master’s paintings, though, women with extra flesh on their forms were presented as luscious and sensuous, with even cellulite clearly on display (gasp!).
But back to modern makeup.
A darker aesthetic
For the most part, no matter your body shape, makeup is meant to flatter and enhance. Not so with the heroin chic lite look of the makeup on the Tolegen runway.
“We're exploring a darker aesthetic, embracing the shadow side of humanity,” said Kanako Takase, Global Creative Director of Addiction Tokyo.
Takase layered reddish-brown eyeshadow on top of warm hues to achieve the desired tired effect. While reddish shadow isn’t traditionally a flattering look, even Marilyn Monroe dotted the tiniest bit of red in her wide-eyed look to add a bit of sultriness.
I’ll be honest. I wanted to hate this look but was drawn to some of it. The world is dark right now; why not reflect that in your beauty palette?
On a more hopeful note, the incredible deep mani surrounded by feminine pearls seems to cheekily sum up the dichotomy of being a modern woman trapped between fluctuating trends. Sure, we’re tired and just trying to get through. But we also sometimes like to skate closer to the edge.
If you try this collection, I suggest using an extremely light hand with reddish tones unless you have a deeper skin tone. And I’d skip the dark undereye effect entirely, an unflattering look that was trending a few years back. Incidentally, I’m tempted to try Truffle, a matte red-brown eye shadow ($20) that resembles Embark by MAC. The pearl-enhanced manicure uses Bloody Merlot ($19, additiontokyobeauty.com).
So, what do you think about Exhausted Beauty and similar nihilistic beauty looks? Let’s meet in the comment section to discuss.
Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋
In today's Wall Street Journal there's an article about the boon in cosmetic surgeries to deal with sagging skin after people lose a lot of weight with Ozempic or similar drugs. Everything is going under the knife: butt, arms, breasts, back, etc. We can never win, no matter what we do! But those gals that Rubens painted? Those are my new BFFs.