Have you heard? There may or may not be a vibe shift coming. And the vibe may or may not be shifting to indie sleaze.
Thats what trend forecasters and apparently all the rest of us are now calling the style that typified the nightlife (and next morning) scene of the mid/late-aughts and very early 2010s. Of course, back then, it was just an unnamed American Apparel-meets-thrift shop look youd rock to both warehouse concerts and, like, a very niche museum.
One Instagram account that has captured the vibe is the user submission-based profile @indiesleaze, which "Document[s] the decadence of mid-late aughts and the indie sleaze party scene that died in 2012," according to the Instagram bio. The account features grainy or fisheye lens photos of candid, messy-haired debauchery. Some of the subjects are celebrities and party icons, most are just kids in glitter and hole-filled t-shirts that could be you or me. It's joyful, embarrassing, scene-y, wistful, and a real good time.
All @indiesleaze photos courtesy of Olivia V. and @ron_snake
The account owner is a 31-year-old who referred to herself only as Olivia V. She began the account in January 2021, and in just over a year it has grown to around 30,000 followers. While that might not sound huge, she's gotten photo submissions from party kings and queens like the fashion designer Jeremy Scott, the photographer @ron_snake who shot on behalf of Mark The Cobrasnake Hunter, Princess Nokia, and more.
"It's been sort of a whirlwind, surreal experience seeing this account grow," Olivia said. "I didn't know that as many people would connect with it as they have."
But people are connecting with the account, and the time and culture it documents. Looking back is 'fun' and 'sad' for those of us who lived it as a way to justify nostalgia for when we were younger and hotter and had more fun. The thought that a culture based on dancing your face off to electro-pop might be coming back is both horrifying and exciting for us young 30-somethings. And to Gen-Zers circulating through trend cycles at warp speed, the year 2009 is already retro, partially because it was the very last gasp of socializing before smartphones. Therefore it's worthy of nostalgic rebirth or at the very least cherry-pickable, fashion-wise.
"It's easy to see how in the moment people were," Olivia said of the photos from that time. "Technology was such a big part of this time, but it also wasn't so integral [that] people couldn't look away from their phones."
Olivia is a Toronto-based producer, video editor, and writer who moved to the city for college in 2008. That's when she developed her indie bona-fides putting on local shows with friends and attending a weekly dance night at a "very cheap" venue where the DJ always ended his set with some MGMT.
Like so many, Olivia found herself unemployed in January 2021 thanks to the pandemic. She was looking for something creative that made her feel good, and thought back to her college and young adult years, a time she associated with fun and connectedness with the scene.
Olivia decided to start an Instagram account to post pictures from that time as a way to have some collective feel-good nostalgia, while also getting a potential jump on what she suspected would be a trend making a comeback. But she needed a name.
She shuddered at any variation of the dreaded term "hipster." She thought "electro-pop" and "blog haus" described more musical genres than the culture as a whole. And "twee" was a cutesy fashion and music movement that, while it occurred alongside nouveau disco looks, was not the same thing. "Indie," however, was the umbrella term for the underground music scene of the time which was really the cultural center, so she landed on that anchor. Olivia also thought about the smudged makeup and the messiness of it all, which made her think of "trashiness," but that felt too negative. Then, she remembered the early 2000s magazine Sleaze, and the Uffie lyric "I'll make your sleazy dreams come true." So there she had it: Indie Sleaze.
"It was like you had to be effortless, or at least appear effortless," Olivia said.
Olivia's thought process was right on the money. The online aesthetics collective Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute (CARI) lists "indie sleaze" as a distinct aesthetic. Mashable asked CARI for a history of the term and it also began with associations to Sleaze magazine. The concept saw some resurgence in the mid-2010s: In 2016, a CARI-affiliated Facebook group called Post-Post-Y2K dedicated to 2000s/2010s aesthetics posted a poll about what the group should re-name itself. Someone suggested "indie ber-sleaze." Two years later, an aesthetics documenter named Dalia Barillaro created a Facebook group called Indie ber-sleaze, and CARI created an official aesthetic category of the same name on its website. In 2021, it shortened the term to Indie Sleaze.
Olivia says that when she looked up Indie Sleaze, there were no hashtags or aesthetics associated with it yet. Probably, the concept was coalescing in more place than one. But it's clear that in the era of nu-disco, blog house, and indie pop, sleaze was in the air.
The word "sleaze" is a reminder that even if that time was fun, it was also problematic. Party pics and American Apparel model campaigns came with a helping of objectification, while the rising prominence of electronic music failed to acknowledge the black and brown communities where many of the sounds originated.
"In retrospect, this term absolutely fits this zeitgeist, as scumbags like Terry Richardson and Dov Charney (American Apparel) were elevated into celebrity and cultural status," Froyo Tam, CARI's lead director, said over email.
Things began to take off for Olivia's account in October 2021. Trend forecaster Mandy Lee, who said she had heard the term on Tumblr and saw it on CARI, posted a video on her @oldloserinbrooklyn TikTok showing how the trend was coming back. The video went viral, and then suddenly, follows and submissions to @indiesleaze started rolling in.
"People started sending me stuff from across the world," Olivia said. "Through this account, I've been really talking with all these people that have been helping me make the account what it is and giving it back this community driven vibe, which is what I experienced at the time when I was growing up here in Toronto."
If the Indie Sleaze vibe is in fact re-surging and not just being fondly looked back upon that's what Olivia hopes we really take from it, especially as we rebuild our social lives. More important than fashion is her hope for the return of affordable venues with a sense of community. That there's an explosion of live music, where bands you love are at the center of your life and your friendships. When we go out, maybe we can keep our phones in our pockets and give party photographers back some business. Maybe we can rediscover the fun of going online to look at a magazine's pictures days later. Also, let's leave the ogling Terry Richardson-esque lens in the past, OK? And after quarantines and lockdowns galore, Olivia hopes the vibe shifts to embracing the sexuality of the time or "get[ting] some of our mojo back," as Olivia put it.
"We can learn from the past and make an even better kind of revitalization of that era," Olivia said. "I think it's good to look back, take the good parts, and incorporate those into a new world."
Visit link:
The creator of Instagram account indiesleaze weighs in on the 'vibe shift' - Mashable
- NBC Has a Huge Opportunity with Law & Order: SVU's 25th Season - CBR - Comic Book Resources - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Seeding a gay community in LA, the gay liberation revolution - Los Angeles Blade - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Britney Spears's 'Baby One More Time' music video debuted on ... - Yahoo Entertainment - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- 13 Of The Greatest And Most Famous Britpop Bands - Hello Music Theory - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- The top advertising campaigns of 2023 according to Australian ... - AdNews - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- The 25 Best New Movies Streaming in November 2023 - TheWrap - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Jets' Aaron Rodgers 'attacking' rehab, eyes return this season - WABC-TV - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- ESG counteroffensive is missing big guns - POLITICO - POLITICO - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The increasingly radical climate movement, explained - Vox.com - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Imani Winds inspires with recital celebrating composers of color at ... - EarRelevant - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The Super Models Tells the Story of the Original Fashion Influencers - AnOther Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- What constitutes a master? Don't ask Jann Wenner The Daily ... - Daily Free Press - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The Conviviality of Ivan Illich (Part I) | by O.G. Rose | Oct, 2023 ... - Medium - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- SickKids unveils more future-focused VS campaign to match new ... - The Message - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Top 6 Iconic Classic Rock Bands of the '60s - American Songwriter - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Brent Harold: The renaissance of union logic - Arizona Daily Star - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- German bishops conclude tense gathering with all eyes on Synod ... - Catholic World Report - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Slasher Saturdays: The Hills Have Eyes (1977) Vs. The Hills Have ... - Horror Obsessive - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Listen to Scott Drebit Discuss His New Book A CUT BELOW: A ... - Daily Dead - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Whitney Houston Hairstyles: Tribute to Her Unparalleled Elegance - PINKVILLA - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Frosted Lipstick, Chunky Highlights & Thick Eyeliner: Every Beauty ... - New Zealand Herald - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- From Alphas To Betas: Science Says There Are Three Types Of ... - Evie Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Russell Brand is a product of the horrifically misogynistic noughties - Prospect Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The Enduring Magic of Lorde's Pure Heroine and HAIM's Days Are ... - Paste Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Climate activists: How far is too far in raising the climate alarm? - Daily Maverick - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Pride Anthems at WHBPAC June 2nd at 8PM - Hamptons.com - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- The illuminating influence of Eric Huntley - Peoples Dispatch - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Want Sofia Richie Style? Try These Cheap Nordstrom Finds - Who What Wear - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- What will Saudi-Iran rapprochement mean for the Palestinians? - +972 Magazine - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- EU as Arbiter of Ideological Elegance? The European Conservative - The European Conservative - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Catholic theology yesterday and today: A Thomist's response to Dr ... - Catholic World Report - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Andy Warhol exhibition coming to College of DuPage - Chicago Tribune - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- COVER STORY | Arlo Parks Embraces the Intimacy of Aliveness - Paste Magazine - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- The Number Ones: The Black Eyed Peas' Boom Boom Pow - Stereogum - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- 7 First-time ASTRA Exhibitors You Don't Want to Miss This June - Gifts & Decorative Accessories - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Curator Lesley Lokko on the Venice Architecture Biennale: 'It's about ... - Financial Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- German revolution of 1848: A precursor to today's democracy - DW (English) - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Hoxton, Lloyd Amsterdam to open 21st August 2023 - Hospitality Net - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Ruin America? Joe Manchin is just getting started. | Will Bunch ... - The Philadelphia Inquirer - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- How the MTV logo captured the creative spirit of the 1980s - Creative Bloq - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- I give up I cant do that: The song that made David Crosby want to quit music - Far Out Magazine - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- How We Loved and Lost the Hot Girl Summer - The Swaddle - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 5 Laid Back Essentials From Faherty Prove The Hype - Fatherly - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' director Daniel Goldhaber explains the ... - The Real News Network - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Totally Rockin' History of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem - Collider - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Was The Hunger Games Renaissance Planned All Along? - GameRant - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Michael J. Fox Looks Back on Hollywood Triumphs, Setbacks and Why Parkinsons Is the Gift That Keeps on Taking - Variety - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- It's Raining Ramen! A Brief History of Jewish Asian Fusion - Aish - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Ted Weber's Wesleyan Political Theology - Juicy Ecumenism - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- What do the British Royals and Cleopatra have in common? - Firstpost - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Pakistan Army won't bounce back easily this time. Imran Khan ... - ThePrint - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Five years since #MeToo, Tarana Burke is looking beyond the hashtag - Yahoo News - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- After Florence Pugh Freed The Nipple, Olivia Wilde Supported The Movement On New Magazine Cover - CinemaBlend - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Barbara Kay: The Movement to Normalize Pedophilia Hits a Roadblock, but We Mustn't Let Our Guard Down - The Epoch Times - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Is it Time to Decolonize Global Health Data? - Research Blog - Duke University - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Claire Foy Doesnt Think Women Talking Could Have Been Made Before #MeToo - Yahoo Entertainment - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Can the Congress rewrite its chronicle of a death foretold? - Scroll.in - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- We need a strong nationalist as a president - Daily Sun - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- The 19th Century Movement to Canonize Columbus - Catholic Exchange - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Audemars Piguet toasts 50 years of Royal Oak with new watches, book - New York Post - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Claire Foy Doesn't Think 'Women Talking' Could Have Been Made Before #MeToo - Yahoo! Voices - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Best Bets: 6 nights of live music at Wussow's and more - Duluth News Tribune - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Five Burning Questions: Bad Bunny Spends a 13th Week at No. 1 With Un Verano Sin Ti - Billboard - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- San Diego artist uses creativity to uplift Black culture and 'determine how we are seen' - The San Diego Union-Tribune - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- The Premier League at thirty - what should it sound like next? - Broadcast - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Steve Braunias on Peter Ellis case: 'Moral panic, contaminated evidence and an innocent ghost' - New Zealand Herald - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Constituency Statutes: The Overlooked Predecessor to the ESG Movement - JD Supra - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- 10 books to add to your reading list in October 2022 - Los Angeles Times - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- The Multiple Religions Coexisting Within the Catholic Church - Crisis Magazine - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- 2023 Oscar Predictions The Rules of the Game - Awards Daily - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Kathy Sheridan: Brace yourselves for where Giorgia Meloni and Italy end up - The Irish Times - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- The rise and fall of Sir Philip Green, the retail king who fell from grace - Evening Standard - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- The lying flat movement standing in the way of China ... - Brookings - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Namwali Serpell Distills the Disorienting Experience of Grief in 'The Furrows' - Shondaland.com - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Dance & House Music Ruled the Summer. What Now? - Complex - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- It is time to back a new party in the elections - Morning Star Online - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- The empty feminism of Dont Worry Darling - The Guardian - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Sunburn The morning read of what's hot in Florida politics 9.26.22 - Florida Politics - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- GOP candidate Trevor Lee ran a secret Twitter account that attacked LGBTQ people and Utah Gov. Cox. Now he's been rebuked by Republican leadership. -... - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Peeling Back the Slasher-Inspired Look of HBO Maxs Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin with Cinematographer Anka Malatynska - Dread Central - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]