Indie sleaze. A Critique. (Thumbtack)

You may have heard about a particular aesthetic called “indie sleaze” inspired by Interpol (most prominent of the indie rock bands of the time), striped tops/dresses, slouchy beanies, dirty Converse, smoking cigarettes in your young 20s at parties with red solo cups, smudged eyeliner, berets, etc. The Cobrasnake was a prominent photographer of this 2014 era with his night-life celebrity focus. I am not anti-subculture. What I am inherently saying is that this style of culture does not necessarily speak to me. No shade, this is just my critique of the scene. 

Photo by Cobrasnake (Mark Hunt)

Google image search “indie sleaze” and you’ll find many white crowds (I hesitate to use the word caucasian because it’s 2025 and the average individual doesn't use this term in their vernacular) with a few black people sprinkled in. The scene does not appear to be diverse. What also comes to mind is the music artist “The Dare,” who I don’t listen to on a regular basis. His music is just too intense to find myself doing so. I believe he also TikTok-ified the particular scene when people were consuming Charli XCX content during what Gen Z-ers called “brat summer.” This duo has a current influence on the indie sleaze revival.

Last December, I watched a docu-video about the evolution of different hipster eras called the "Hipster Report." This got taken down on YouTube for “nudity,” though that was not the primary content of the video (however, the creator has a Patreon that you can access via subscription). It touches on the topic of middle-class white transplants in the scene. By "transplants" in this context, I am referring to people who come from small towns out of state and move to bigger cities. I recall seeing a tweet or a meme that was captioned “upper-class people who don’t pay rent pretending to be poor,” in which the characters are socializing at a party. That is what this subculture is saying to me. Sort of nepotism child artist behavior if you will. 

Photo by Cobrasnake (Mark Hunter)

If a person of color were to dress in this style, with bleached hair and thick smudged eyeliner with a red solo cup in hand, audiences would assume this person is not doing well as it seems low effort and low class. Some might even term this “trashy” or "degenerate" material. Indie-sleaze is euro-centric down to its roots, in which it only seems edgy if the presentation of it is a conservative upper-middle class young individual who parties frequently and buys vintage clothing to keep up with the aesthetic. Indie sleaze is almost like an exclusive performance art in my eyes. On the subject of style, many culture critics give credit to American Apparel for trying to capitalize on this trendy culture and curate such designs, making them marketable to the public.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a consumer of indie rock music and have a strong appreciation for Interpol and Dev Hynes. I've been to the Pitchfork Music Festival two years in a row (which is not running this year, unfortunately). Being considerate and mindful of what I consume or partake in is important to how to execute a somewhat ethical lifestyle. I don’t mind if people associate with the style if it suits them. I’m in a sort of bystander zone of liking and disliking it as I’ve just recently watched the movie "Trainspotting," which contains elements of indie sleaze, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I could also expand on this topic, comparing the "clean girl" consumerist subculture, but you may kind of get the gist. Celebrate life as you please. :)