The Indie Sleaze Revival
The worst person you’ve ever met is in the crowd.
Original shoot by FAST at UCLA. Photography by Airis Encarnacion and Angelina Kim. Modeling by Wyatt Brandt, Ciana Machi, and Trinity Brakenbury. Styling by Jasmine Johnson, Sean Clenista, and Jimmy Mancilla. Makeup by Alyssa Hulse. Production Assistance by Haliun Enkhnyam, Elizabeth Salgado, and Harini Srinivasan.
Welcome to the scene. The flashing lights and the musk of cigarette smoke is overwhelming. A DJ bobs their head to the beat, and you feel the drum of the bass thumping in your bones. The room is hot from dozens of bodies dancing together, their heat weighing heavy on their leather jackets and skinny jeans. It feels like you’ll be crushed by the crowd at any given moment. But no matter where the night takes you, something about it has you coming back every weekend.
Photographed by Matt Cardy.
Indie Sleaze is a new label for a decades-old phenomenon. The Indie Sleaze party scene first took place in the mid-late aughts, with celebrities like Kate Moss and Sky Ferreira credited as progenitors of the aesthetic. Bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, and The Strokes captured the soundscape of the era, inviting fans donning striped shirts and fur coats to flock to their sets.
@indiesleaze on Instagram has dedicated their page to showcasing the “decadence of the Indie Sleaze party scene.” They’ve gained nearly 250 thousand followers posting photos of celebrities and civilians alike, dancing at clubs, parties, and music festivals.
@indiesleaze asserts that the scene died in 2012. But Google Trends shows that the term began picking up steam in 2021, and reached peak interest in August 2024. Modern Indie Sleaze has been reimagined from its indie rock roots. The revival pulls more inspiration from underground electronic music with artists like Charli xcx, The Hellp, Snow Strippers, and Crystal Castles leading the movement.
Even as the musical influences of the aesthetic shift, the fashion behind Indie Sleaze has remained constant. Hedi Slimane is considered by many to be the father of Indie Sleaze fashion, bringing its core elements to the runway. From Dior Homme SS03 to Celine FW23, Slimane has consistently championed Indie Sleaze’s gritty yet glamorous edge. His looks often feature raw denim, leather jackets, and layered accessories – all mainstays in the aesthetic.
Dior Homme SS03 (left). Celine FW23 (right).
“Pedro and October | Green Star” by Hedi Slimane.
Since Hedi Slimane’s exit from Celine in October 2024, Slimane has continued to showcase the living, breathing spirit of Indie Sleaze. His photography in the streets of London showcases how the style translates from runway to wardrobe.
Indie Sleaze reemerges as a departure from previous popular aesthetics. Lately, pop culture has been partial towards clean, polished looks: think of the Pilates Princess, Coquette, Clean Girl aesthetics. These lifestyles reward social conformity, endorsing a wellness culture that churns out uniformity. The aesthetic has all its followers striving for the same look: slick-back hair, toned stomachs, pink lips, full lashes.
Alternative scenes have always existed as a departure from the mainstream, and Indie Sleaze is no different. Indie Sleaze speaks to its followers as an opportunity to rebel against corporate culture: the aesthetic’s love for thumping bass and free expression is antithetical to corporate expectations of productivity and conformity. Indie Sleaze offers a glimpse into the psyche of our youth culture, showing an overwhelming sense of corporate burnout.
Gen Z is entering the workforce at a time when the job market has dried up. It’s become common to apply to hundreds of job listings each hiring cycle, to only receive a few offers – and that’s if you're lucky. The Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that hiring rates are down 1.3% since 2021, and unemployment rates for recent college graduates outpace the general population. It’s hard to not feel hopeless when one in five borrowers are severely behind on their student loan debt and economists are forecasting a 60 percent probability of recession.
We tried romanticizing our future in the workplace, but the Office Siren has come and gone. With no signs of the job market improving any time soon, Indie Sleaze forwards a tempting motion: to reject the notion of traditional work entirely. Business Vogue says it best: “re-embracing indie sleaze elements … takes us back to the times before and immediately following the 2008 financial crisis.” Indie Sleaze originates from a time where we didn’t need to worry about our economy. The aesthetic promotes chasing the high of the night rather than worrying about the consequences of the next morning. Indie Sleaze offers a hedonistic oasis in a desert of fruitless job hunts, rising grocery prices, and suffocating rent costs.
But every oasis has its mirages. The 2000s often glamorized drug use and diet culture, glorifying thinness and disordered eating habits. Indie Sleaze fashion naturally upholds toxic beauty standards: thinness is the silent barrier of entry to low-rise denim. Kate Moss’ infamous phrase, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” was plastered across social media feeds of the 2000s. Indie Sleaze brought “heroin chic” into the limelight, romanticizing gaunt figures, pale skin, and hollowed eyes – all symptoms of substance abuse. Cocaine and MDMA, heralded as “skinny drugs,” were commonplace at clubs.
With the Indie Sleaze revival, diet culture creeps its way back into the mainstream. The widespread availability of Ozempic promotes a shortcut to “heroin chic,” and a dangerous return to hyper-slim aesthetics. In Charli xcx’s Grammy-award winning album, brat, she candidly discusses struggles with disordered eating:
I’d go back to a time to when I wasn’t insecure / To when I didn’t overanalyze my face shape
Nowadays, I only eat at the good restaurants / But honestly, I’m always thinkin’ ‘bout my weight
– Charli xcx in “Rewind”
I was so lost in my head / And scared to be in your pictures
‘Cause for the last couple years / I’ve been at war with my body
I tried to starve myself thinner / And then I gained all the weight back
– Lorde, in Charli xcx’s “Girl, so confusing” remix
Hedonistic with the gravel, drawing dead eyes
You say she’s anorexic, and you hear she likes when people say it
– Charli xcx in “Mean girls”
Critics of Indie Sleaze also assert that the scene lacks diversity: figures like The Hellp and 2hollis reinforce that being thin, white, and male are prerequisites to avoid exclusion from the scene.
As Indie Sleaze comes back into popularity, it’s critical that we don’t repeat the mistakes from the 2000s. This time around, the scene is powered by endless amounts of talent from queer and BIPOC artists. Angel Prost of Frost Children and Ginger Scott of MGNA Crrrta are both trans women, and Jane Remover, RADA, and iKeda are all women of color thought to be the future of their genres. Jackzebra, a rising star, has been called “Chinese Bladee” by his fans, bringing a Chinese influence to his rap. These creatives have found sanctuary in the scene, turning a once exclusionary aesthetic into a celebration of unapologetic self-expression.
In the end, the Indie Sleaze revival is a comfort to our youth. The movement represents living for yourself first and others second, an appealing notion at a time where our youth face mounting societal pressures. The aesthetic is a reminder that even though our democracy may be backsliding and a recession may be around the corner, the dance floor has never been better and creativity cannot be killed.
