When thinking about marijuana clothing in the past, oversized t-shirts with marijuana leaves might come to mind along with clichéd Rastafarian inspired designs. These are not exactly high fashion images and nowhere near the kind of high caliber design that makes it to the runway. But this may be a thing of the past. As marijuana legalization and decriminalization sweeps across the country, the industry has been working to make some improvements. It has been elevating its image above the previous stereotypes of pizza eating stoner slackers who do nothing but watch TV. Instead, the realm of edibles has entered gourmet territory, expensive, cannabis related luxury items are being marketed and this rising profile has even reached the fashion industry.
Iconic Marijuana Imagery in Fashion
Many designers are using marijuana inspired designs in their latest catalogs. For example, as part of last year's Fall/Winter collection, New York based designer Alexander Wang dressed his models in grungy mini-skirt suits, marijuana leaf graphics, laser cut dresses and fake fur coats. He even featured models rolling joints in his ad campaign. Also that season, New York-based brand Baja East used pins shaped like marijuana leaves on some of the clothes and even pot leaf shaped earrings for some of the models. The highly influential brand Vetements included pot grinder necklaces in that same Fall/Winter 2016 collection.
Accessorizing with Cannabis Inspired Pieces
Marijuana clothing is being accompanied in high fashion alongside marijuana inspired accessories. Edie Parker is known for its popular personalized acrylic box bags. The brand released a collection of its popular clutch bags that had words like "Weed" and "Herb" written on them. The brand even released a clutch with "420" written on it in Roman Numerals.
Looking Beyond Marijuana Clothing to Cannabis Jewelry
Then there's Jacquie Aiche, a Los Angeles based designer of fine jewelry. She's is most famously known for her marijuana inspired Sweet Leaf motif which she says "has come to symbolize freedom, happiness and healing—all in a simple, beautiful form.” The leaf can be found on high fashion necklaces, diamond earrings, rings and snakeskin clutches. They have been worn by many high profile personalities including Rihanna, Kendall Jenner and activist Bianca Barnhill who wore the diamond studs to the White House.
Early Signs of Cannabis in High Fashion
The marijuana leaf's appearance in high fashion clothing and jewelry seems to be getting more and more popular. High profile designers are coming out in droves to utilize the leaf in their designs. Jeremy Scott, who is the creative director of Moschino, introduced the green-washed Adidas logo in 2012, the year that pot was first legalized for recreational use in Colorado and Washington. Mara Hoffman took things further and put out a spring collection in 2015 that featured cannabis leaves woven into dresses and pants.
Marijuana clothing is definitely changing its identity as more high fashion designers jump on the plant as their newest inspiration. With the plant legal for medical use in 29 states, recreational use in 8 states plus D.C. and the majority of Americans (60 percent according to the latest polls) in favor of legalizing the plant, the positive attitude seems only likely to grow.
