Was Indie Sleaze the trend of 2022? (2024)

FAQs

When was indie sleaze popular? ›

Indie sleaze was a fashion style popular in the United States and United Kingdom from approximately 2006 to 2012. Characterised by an affordable, messy and lethargic take on vintage fashion styles, especially the 1970s, the style was particularly popular amongst the hipster subculture and indie rock bands.

“The indie sleaze resurgence reflects our generation's desire to reject the overly rigid trends we saw come about as a response to the lack of precedent during COVID — we are done trying to over-correct that instability and are looking for a way to express our silliness and creativity,” Wewerka said.

Enter “messy girl” spring: Otherwise known as indie sleaze style, this effortlessly cool aesthetic is introducing the undone nature of the 2010s to a new generation. Trend forecaster Mandy Lee first noted this revival on TikTok in October 2021, but the aesthetic is fully reentering the mainstream in 2024.

Indie sleaze pushed drug use, particularly cocaine, in a way that was purely about the party. It centered being seen at events, promoted the deification of the party photographer, and saw capitalistic idealism become the motivating factor for the movement — above music, art, community, and conscience.

The US, which did not have as much of a scene in the 1980s, had many indie pop enthusiasts by the mid 1990s. Most of the modern notion of indie music stems from NME's 1986 compilation C86, which collects many guitar bands who were inspired by the early psychedelic sounds of 1960s garage rock.

Heyo, I loveeee "sleaze"- I don't think it's a genre and I have no way of classifying it, but I think the strokes are apart of it. The only other artists that I can think of are the libertines, the Velvet underground, white stripes, and The dare.

However, amidst the chaos, a surprising and uplifting trend emerged: the resurgence of indie music. As people sought solace and connection through music during these challenging times, indie artists found themselves in the spotlight once again, making a triumphant comeback.

INDIE DYER: A person or small business that hand-dyes yarn. INDIE YARN: Yarn produced by an independent dyer or small business, rather than a large commercial manufacturer. KAL (KNIT-ALONG): A community event where participants knit the same pattern or project together.

Trappings of this aesthetic include high-flash photography, electro-rock dance halls, imprecise eyeliner, old American Apparel ads, mussed up hair and side-swept bangs.

Globally, hipster culture had become a "global phenomenon" during the early-mid 2010s, before declining from the mainstream by 2016–2017.

How do you wear indie sleaze? ›

It was all about skinny jeans (suffocatingly tight) paired with leather jackets and striped shirts and vests—maybe even a little cheesy fedora, too. Smudged eyeliner; messy hair—an edgy, perfectly-imperfect vibe.

An alternative style subculture that formed out of the noughties' Great Recession, 'indie sleaze' is slowly gaining ground among Chinese Gen Z consumers. Young millennials have reached the age when fashion is resurrecting their teens, with Gen Zers moving from the early to late noughties for style inspiration.

In the 1970s cocaine regained popularity as a recreational drug and was glamorized in the U.S. popular media. Articles from the time proclaimed cocaine as non-addictive. The drug was viewed as harmless until the 1985 emergence of crack.

Still, the imprint of psychedelic culture is all over the band's early works, including Barrett's unmistakable influence. Beyond Syd Barrett's LSD use, founding member Roger Waters has admitted to taking LSD over 50 times in the 1960s and also experimented with marijuana and hashish.

The aesthetic encapsulates a wide range of clothing and accessories, featuring everything from metallic bodysuits and studded "Lita" boots to lamé leggings and chokers. Other key elements include striped shirts, lensless glasses, big belts, plaid pants, cardigans, A-line skirts, and even chunky gold jewelry.

Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s.

History. The indie aesthetic originated in the 1980s in the United Kingdom. Sometimes referred to as “Twee”, indie fashion mainly consisted of striped t-shirts, jeans, mop tops and anoraks.

Indie sleaze has roots in both rebellion and anti-fashion. Taking on an “anything goes” mentality, this alternative movement feels like a rejection to the runway-to-rack traditional structure of trends. Instead, trends now begin online.