What do you get when you mix debauchery with point-and-shoot cameras? The indie sleaze style from the early noughties.
Fashion has waded into the deep end with Y2K revival looks, but it seems we’re beginning to drift towards the early 2010s with the emergence of up-all-night party looks and an infusion of sex into our wardrobes.
Perhaps it’s the slow emergence from the pandemic mindset that has us all wanting to party into the early hours, or at least look like we have been. The late 2000s and early 2010s were dominated by maximalist outfits topped off 20 layered necklaces. Every few years it seems we swing between minimalism and maximalism. During lockdown, comfort-driven clothing like sweatpants and cashmere sweaters pushed a minimalist, functional fashion forward. Everyone is simply looking to show off their duds.
An indie sleaze style classic: the Crystal Castles album cover from 2008.
Trend forcaster Mandy Lee, a TikToker also known as @oldloserinbrooklyn, put a name to 2010s club fashion with a TikTok predicting the return of “indie sleaze.” Her list of key characteristics from the era include provocative advertising, amateur style flash photography, opulent displays of clubbing, mashup music, and retro tech.
These days, provacative ad campaigns have been replaced by sexy Instagram influencers. Flash photography with digital cameras has been supplanted by single use film cameras.. According to Lee, TikTok has revived mashups and hipsters’ use of polaroids and typewriters has turned to the now somewhat outdated use of wired headphones and flip phones.
The two poster boys of the indie sleaze style of the 2000’s: Cole Mohr and Yuri Pleskun.
Indie sleaze hasn’t fully dominated yet; we’re still rocking millennial pink and sparkly turn-of-the-century accessories. Rhinestones are all the rage (yes, even for men), but don’t be surprised if shuttered shades and watermarked club photos start filtering into your feed. A huge facet of indie sleaze styling comes from the Tumblr era. Back in the 2010s, the website was flooded with American Apparel campaign photos, Arctic Monkeys concert pictures, and Skins screencaps.
Effy Stonem, queen of the TV show Skins, may be the perfect representative for this trend. She was a staple on Tumblr and never left a party until the sun came up. Her mascara was beautifully streaked and her stockings tastefully ripped up the thighs. As a middle schooler at the height of her dominance, you either wanted to be her or be with her.
View this post on Instagram
Other darlings of the scene include Katy Perry, the Olsen twins, Sky Ferarria, and Kanye West. Instagram account @indiesleaze has tasked itself with “documenting the decadence of mid-late aughts and the indie sleaze party scene that died in 2012.” Its feed is littered with half-baked, fully wasted celebrities and Tumblr sweethearts.
Or, to peruse an adjacent, interweaving trend, look to the resurgence of pop punk aesthetics. The look is similarly post-party, full of rips, patterns, and dead eyes. The punk scene just has a bit more angst than the freewheeling indie adopters. It makes sense that the two looks would make a simultaneous return, like how the jocks and marching band travel together, despite their differing hobbies.
If you would like to be an early adopter of the indie sleaze revival, purchase a hoodie immediately and start hitting the nearby thrift stores in search of the now-going extinct skinny jeans. Buy a pair of big, black shades to wear indoors (hey, it’s 2010s style). Seek out some OG American Apparel pieces, most importantly the beanie and sweater. Then, work to improve your alcohol tolerance, or get good at pretending to be drunk in your friends’ photographs.
This story about the return of indie sleaze style first appeared on L’officiel Singapore.
RELATED ARTICLES
Rising Hemlines Have Us Hot and Unbothered
Givenchy's Hard Carry Is the Voyou
