Smoking Stars Fuel Online Obsession

March 16, 2011 — -- A supermodel puffed one on a runway. An actress snuck one at a park. Television's formerly highest-paid actor is rarely seen without one dangling from his mouth.

Is it 1929, or is smoking really back in style?

Last week, Kate Moss sauntered down the runway of Louis Vuitton's Paris fashion show, cigarette in hand. Not only did she break the law (in 2007, France banned smoking in public places), she also insulted her native Britain, which observed No Smoking Day as she puffed away.

Most significantly, she revived an impression that had laid latent in pop culture for years and has recently flourished online: smoking is sexy.

It would be one thing if Moss were caught with a cigarette on the street (as has happened plenty of times before). But when she lights up on the runway of one of the world's leading luxury brands, does that mean the fashion house endorses smoking too?

"Kate Moss is a rebel and I hope this was a singular act, not one endorsed or supported by Louis Vuitton," said Marvet Britto, president of the brand architecture firm The Britto Agency. "It was disrespectful to the attendees and it was disrespectful to the models who had to follow her. Now, the attention is solely on the cigarette versus the clothes. In my mind, that couldn't have been the intent of the brand."

Representatives for Louis Vuitton did not respond to ABCNews.com's repeated requests for comment.

Like Moss, Charlie Sheen elevates smoking by association. The former "Two and a Half Men" star turned unprecedented online sensation (1 million Twitter followers in less than 24 hours) takes drag after drag on his new online show, "Sheen's Korner," and in his many rambling interviews. Uma Thurman furthered the trend when paparazzi caught her smoking mid-hike through a Beverly Hills, Calif. park.