It’s no secret the 2010s are back in a big way, and I am here to tell you to fully embrace it. Nostalgia has always been huge, and its influence on style and generational aesthetics cannot be understated. As our generation rises to be the new teenagers and young adults, it’s time to finally give flowers to the millennials who paved the way with their Snapchat filters and chokers. 

In the beginning of the 2020s, we saw an influx of the clean girl and, more broadly, minimalism. Sleek buns and perfectly dewy makeup infiltrated everybody’s feed. Now, however, there’s been a clear rise of maximalism and an embrace of the glitter and rage of the early to mid 2010s: the clean girl is dead, and dancing on her grave is the indie sleaze princess. 

Indie sleaze was a fashion style popular in the late 2000s to the mid 2010s. The style was spread to the mainstream by popular social media at the time, namely MySpace and Tumblr (rip). As fashion is cyclical, indie sleaze took heavy inspiration from vintage fashion styles from the 80s and 90s, incorporating leather and loud prints. The style is marked by leather jackets, thick eyeliner, skinny jeans, ripped fishnets, bandtees, bedhead, and an overall grunge aesthetic. Unique to the style is its affordability and accessibility, with many of the pieces that make up the style being easily available at thrift stores.

The aesthetic was spearheaded by icons like Sky Ferreira and viral internet personalities like Cory Kennedy and Alexa Chung, adding to the style’s growing popularity. Shown in the name, music is also an essential part of the indie sleaze aesthetic, with artists like MGMT and The Killers finding immense popularity within the niche.

The fashion style embraced the messiness of post-recession America and encouraged individuality in the rebellious youngsters of the time. The style was a celebration of fun and encapsulated how it feels to be young in an edgy, wonderful way. 

Now, I am not telling you to completely ditch your current style; I am, however, encouraging you to embrace the whimsy and fun of indie sleaze and the 2010s as a whole. Go dye your hair a funky color, rummage through your closet for those old fishnets from your awkward 2020 alt era, and part your hair to the side! At the heart of the indie sleaze aesthetic is a push to embrace your inner wild child and the messy chaos of being young, so do what you’d like and look good doing it! •