Is New York’s stoner culture becoming ‘high fashion’?

From a lawn mower at Collina Strada to a bag of Cheetos at Chromat, the New York Fashion Week runway has seen some obscure ‘accessories’ over the years. This past season, legal pre-rolls were added to that running list. At Grace Ling’s SS25 show in September, joints were stuffed into Butt Bags and green floral arrangements. At Eckhaus Latta’s dinner slash show, cannabis goodies were packed into take-home kits for guests. Gotham, the world's first cannabis concept store, was behind both weed-infused collaborations. As the world of fashion and legal weed collide, Joanne Wilson, the founder of Gotham, has her sights set on democratising cannabis consumption “through a cultural lens”. So, is stoner culture on its way to becoming ‘high fashion’?

This, of course, isn’t the first time people have been seen smoking or doing drugs in the fashion industry. Both models and designers are notorious for carrying a cigarette in one hand, and the prevalence of cocaine in fashion circles was well-documented in the era of ‘heroin chic’. But weed has largely been left out of what’s deemed as a ‘fashionable’ vice until recently (think Carrie Bradshaw chain-smoking cigarettes and ordering a Cosmopolitan). “It’s more about a lifestyle that doesn’t fit into any one box,” says Grace Ling. “Who says you can’t be super chic in a Grace Ling dress and enjoy a little flower as well?”

Gotham opened its first concept store in Lower Manhattan in May 2023. Now, there are three legal-dispensary-meets-lifestyle stores across the tri-state area, with one more coming soon. Alongside pre-rolls and gummies, each store has a highly curated selection of fashion brands, including Eckhaus Latta, Collina Strada, Luar, and more. “Why shouldn’t you go into a really cool store and be able to buy a pre-roll and a fantastic Eckhaus Latta jacket?” says Wilson. According to Wilson, Gotham customers range from people who come in once a day for their pre-roll that night to those buying a pack of gummies and “tonnes of clothing”.

Why shouldn’t you go into a really cool store and be able to buy a pre-roll and a fantastic Eckhaus Latta jacket?

As many brick-and-mortar clothing stores close across New York, being able to try on new clothes at your local dispensary may be a welcome change for those tired of online shopping. “We are shoppers,” says Wilson. “You get a coffee, walk around, engage with people, and tell them ‘I love your outfit’ – that’s the experience we’re providing.” However, Wilson’s vision for Gotham goes beyond making legal cannabis shopping ‘cool’ to New York’s fashion scene; it’s about changing the story. “The narrative of cannabis set up during the Nixon administration was awful, false, and only kept Black and brown men in jail,” says Wilson. “Instead of perpetuating the narrative that cannabis use should be behind a closed door, we have so many people that walk in the door with their parents or friends.”

The racist and discriminatory history of punitive marijuana measures in New York – people of colour made up roughly 95 per cent of all marijuana arrests in the city in 2020 – has no place in Wilson’s vision for a democratised, high-fashion future of weed. Gotham has partnered with Strive, a national nonprofit organisation focused on ending the cycle of poverty for individuals in underserved communities, to arrange licenses for previously incarcerated people and heavily stock women-owned, LGBTQ-owned, and Black and brown-owned cannabis brands across the stores.

Entering a chic dispensary with neon lights, candles, and an array of new hats and scarves isn’t everyone’s preferred way to buy weed. Far from the allure of a mysterious man pulling up to your house on a bike, it’s unlikely that what comes to mind as ‘stoner culture’ (eating pizza in your sweats while being unable to move from your couch) will ever truly infiltrate the world of fashion. There is, however, a new era of legal cannabis culture emerging in New York; it’s alcohol-free fashion industry people pulling out their Gotham goodies during the Eckhaus Latta dinner. “It really enhanced the playful energy of the evening,” says Mike Eckhaus, co-founder of Eckhaus Latta. “For New York, it’s uncharted territory, making it exciting, unpredictable, and very in line with fashion's intrinsic focus on bringing forth newness and change.”