Indie sleaze

Indie sleaze's embrace by the mainstream in the mid–2000s was an optimistic response to the Great Recession and led to a rise in amateur flash photography and hedonistic partying and drug use.

[9][4] Clothes including metallic bodysuits, studded Lita boots manufactured by shoe company Jeffrey Campbell, lamé leggings, shutter shades, ballet flats,[10] chunky gold jewelry, tight t-shirts with ironic slogans, cropped leather jackets, striped shirts, lensless glasses,[5] sheer tops, big belts, plaid pants,[11] tennis skirts, high-top Converse sneakers,[7] multiple necklaces,[12] fedoras, the Balenciaga Motorcycle Bag, stockings with shorts, wired headphones,[13] band T-shirts, and skinny jeans,[3] as well as other elements such as galaxy prints, "Aztec" prints,[10] side-swept bangs,[7] "waif-thin" bodies,[14] grown out roots of bleached hair,[5] smudged eyeliner, amateur flash photography, cigarettes, and drug use have all been listed as hallmarks of indie sleaze.

[16] El País credited this style as being revived through the influence of Hedi Slimane's late 1990s designs for Yves Saint Laurent's Rive Gauche line.

[4] As this took place, it was embraced by various celebrities and public figures, including singers M.I.A.,[21] Sky Ferreira,[22][23] and Beth Ditto;[10] photographers the Cobrasnake and Terry Richardson,[24][11] actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen;[13] designers Henry Holland and Jeremy Scott; and models Cory Kennedy,[5] Pixie Geldof[14] L'Officiel USA named the character Effy Stonem from the British television series Skins "the perfect representative" for [indie sleaze].

[10] Samantha Maxwell of Paste wrote that indie sleaze "feels like a reaction to the early years of Obama's presidency: The economy may have crashed, but there was still a sense of sparkling optimism in the air.

[29][30] This revived interested in indie sleaze in the early 2020s was attributed by publications including Dazed and Elle to the style's affordability, carefree nature and post-pandemic partying.

[33] Arielle Richards of Vice criticized the alleged resurgence of indie sleaze as fake, writing that it was "created by a bunch of overworked millennials trawling Instagram, TikTok, and Google, in a bid to provide the winning take on something that isn't really happening.