Indie sleaze: Moss’ signature style is back

The days of quiet luxury and its slightly haughty vision of good taste are giving way to a far more provocative sartorial style dubbed indie sleaze, which may be familiar to millennials who experimented with the look in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Leather jackets, leopard-print coats, low-rise waists, peplum tops, rock band logos and thicksoled boots are all making a comeback, reviving an aesthetic synonymous with fashion icons like Kate Moss and Alexa Chung.

Think non-stop indie music, love of the Gossip Girl show, non-conformism and a penchant for Moss’ grunge style, and you’ve more or less encapsulated the indie sleaze trend. It was very popular in the late naughts and early 2010s, and seems to be on the rise again.

In contrast to the quiet luxury trend of 2023, this style, worn by fashion icons such as Chung, Chloë Sevigny, Sienna Miller, Amy Winehouse or Moss, blends bohemian and rock inspirations with a small dose of sensuality – if not vulgarity – that makes all the difference.

Surprisingly, at the end of the Y2K years, no one was talking about an indie sleaze style, just an indie style. It wasn’t until the end of 2021 that the concept became popular on the Chinese social

network TikTok, notably thanks to Mandy Lee (@oldloserinbrooklyn).

She links the term to a style that’s sure to be familiar to many a millennial: MySpace, hipsters and other sexy/trashy inspirations. The resurgence of this style runs counter to some of the major trends of the moment, from the clean girl aesthetic to the quest for authenticity and the understated elegance of quiet luxury. On TikTok, the hashtag #indiesleaze already has a huge following, with 180 million views, and is used to tag all kinds of tutorials and looks.

According to the global fashion search engine Stylight, with 90 million annual shoppers, the trend is bringing back lowrise pants – search interest for which has risen 152% in just a few months. Also on the comeback are striped T-shirts (+132%), band T-shirts (+49%), chunky jewellery (+47% on Google), leather jackets (+21%), leopard-print coats (+19%). Demand for Dr. Martens’ boots is up +223%. –