← Ella Watson

Fashion Forecasting · First year · First Class

Indie
Sleaze

A trend report on the messiest look of the mid-noughties: where it came from, why it came back, and what people will be buying next.

Module
Fashion Forecasting
Grade
First Class
Method
Cultural brailing
Forecast
Key items, A/W 24/25
Runway model in a leopard print dress, black jacket and boots
Celine Fall/Winter 2023. Frazer Harrison, 2022

The argument

Indie Sleaze isn’t just a look. It’s a mirror of the mood of an era, and it comes back when times get hard.

I traced the trend from its mid-2000s origins to its post-pandemic revival, using cultural brailing to read the forces around it: recessions, celebrity, social media and film. Then I forecast where it goes next.

Past

2001 to 2011Indie bands, It girls and a recession: how a scruffy, anti-mainstream look became the uniform of a generation.

The music

Born out of the indie scene, with The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys as the touchstones. In 2001 Luella Bartley summed it up: New York old school, a hint of punk and scruffy public-school charm.

The It girls

Alexa Chung and Chelsy Davy pushed it mainstream by mixing vintage with designer, which made the trend feel effortless and aspirational at the same time.

The recession

After 2008, people leaned into individualism and authenticity. A look built on self-expression and second-hand finds fitted the moment.

The Strokes in jeans, band tees and blazers
The Strokes for NME. Dean Chalkley, 2003
Kate Moss in a black waistcoat, shorts and knee-high boots
Kate Moss in 2005. Persona Media
2005

Kate Moss at Glastonbury

A gold knit top, a black leather jacket, a studded “Glastonbury Rocks” belt she’d found the day before, and Hunter wellies. Moss mixed glamour with nonchalance, and her Glastonbury looks are widely credited with inventing festival fashion as we know it.

63 → 5quarters of UK growth, then five in a row of contraction
−15%fall in average UK house prices, January 2008 to May 2009
1991unemployment hit its highest level since then
Trickle-upa street look adopted by the wealthy, not the other way round (Polhemus)

Present

2019 to nowAnother crisis, another revival: runways, nepo babies and a film set in 2007 brought it straight back.

The runways

YSL Spring 2020 brought back waistcoats, low-rise shorts and knee boots straight from Moss’s festival wardrobe. Miu Miu Fall 2022 went gritty with biker boots, raw cuts and leather.

The pandemic

UK GDP fell 9.7% in 2020, the steepest drop since records began in 1948. As with 2008, hardship was followed by a hedonistic need to party.

The nepo babies

Willow Smith and Lily-Rose Depp wear the look with a modern twist: grunge mixed with French chic and quiet high fashion.

Saltburn

Set in 2007, with costumes inspired by Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Kate Moss: 500 million views under #saltburnmovie on TikTok.

YSL runway model in a black waistcoat, shorts and knee boots
YSL Spring 2020.
Pascal Le Segretain, 2019
Miu Miu runway model in a leather jacket and biker boots
Miu Miu Fall 2022.
Filippo Fior, 2022
Saltburn still: Venetia Catton in a pink cardigan at breakfast
Alison Oliver as Venetia Catton
Saltburn still: Felix Catton in a striped polo
Jacob Elordi as Felix Catton
Saltburn still: Venetia drinking from a bottle in sunglasses
Saltburn. Amazon Prime Video, 2023

“The less you dress up, the richer you are.”

Emerald Fennell, Saltburn’s writer-director, to Vogue. It sums up the trend’s class paradox.

Future

A/W 24/25 and beyondThree key items to buy into, each updated for a more sustainable, gender-inclusive customer.

Worn-in black leather jacket

The leather jacket

Worn-in, gender-neutral and timeless. Source traceable leather, embrace creases, and add studs, zips and knitted cuffs. Big resale potential too.

Anthropologie, 2023

26%of UK Gen Z want to buy from brands selling gender-neutral fashion (Mintel)
Tall black biker bootsBlack biker ankle boots

Biker boots

The next upgrade from the Chelsea boot, with pull-on ease, studs and harnesses that justify a higher price. They should look lived-in, never box-fresh.

Kurt Geiger, H&M and Jimmy Choo, 2023

+18.9%Google searches for biker boots, 2022 to 2023, with 70M views on #BikerBoots
Model in a short brown faux fur jacketModel in a long cream faux fur coat

Faux fur coats

An Indie Sleaze staple, updated: natural-fibre fur effects, neutral colours, longer lengths and minimal details, with animal welfare front and centre.

Max Mara and Superdry, 2023

+30%year-on-year rise in faux fur outerwear on the runways (WGSN)

And on social: the “casual” feed

Instagram is moving from polished grids to photo dumps, which matches Gen Z’s search for authenticity and the trend’s undone look. But I argued it’s just as performative: the “off-guard” photos are still hand-picked. Looking effortless while living well is exactly the Indie Sleaze paradox.

It’s here to stay

Indie Sleaze keeps returning because it reflects the mood of hard times. Next time round it will be shaped by inclusivity and sustainability, and its second-hand roots mean anyone can wear it, whatever its upper-class origins.