An Antidepressant Aesthetic

If popping Prozac, listening to Prozac, and living in Prozac Nation haven'tmade you happy, try this prescription: Prozac fashion. A West Hollywood-based company called Don't Panic! has brought out a line of t-shirts that play on the antidepressant's cult status. "Gimme Some Prozac and No One Gets Hurt," reads one; "Prozac: Tastes Better, Less Bitchy" says another. The idea behind the shirts, reveals Don't Panic! president Skyler Thomas, is "to embrace the fact that it's okay to have problems, admit them openly, and be able to laugh at yourself." Other labels and logos "only reveal your taste in clothes or what you can afford," insists Thomas. "Our stuff says something much more personal about the individual."

Thomas isn't the only purveyor of psychopharmaceutical chic. Halifax, Nova Scotia artist Colleen Wolstenholme casts sterling silver jewelry--rings bracelets, earrings, pendants--in the shape of anti-depressants, as well as medications for hyperactivity, HIV, and other diseases and disorders. Wolstenholme, too, thinks her creations encourage candor: "Wearing these pieces is about being honest as a society," she says, "and about teeing `gut' sexually emotionally, and otherwise."

Among the pills she strings like beads onto silver chains are Zoloft, Xanax, and Paxil. Ironically, the only popular antidepressant missing from her collection is Prozac: Though infinitely flexible as a cultural symbol, the shape of Prozac capsules won't submit to the casting process.

PHOTO (COLOR): TOP: Pendant has a Valium pill encircled by Tylenol and Dilaudid, a narcotic analgesic; the chain alternates sunflowers with Paxil, an antidepressant.

PHOTO (COLOR): RIGHT: Bracelet includes Zoloft, Paxil, the anxiety drug clonazepam

PHOTO (COLOR): LEFT: The ring's center Is oxazepam, tranquilizer; circling It are petals of triazolam, a steeping pill.

PHOTO (COLOR): and the stimulant Dexedrine.