Indie sleaze

GQ described Pete Doherty as "the original indie sleaze pin-up"

Indie sleaze was a fashion style popular in the United States and United Kingdom from approximately 2006 to 2012. Characterised by an affordable, messy and lethargic take on vintage fashion styles, especially the 1970s, the style was particularly popular amongst the hipster subculture and indie rock bands.

Originating in the late 1990s and early 2000s amongst New York City indie rock bands like the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol, the style began as a way for bands to visually reference the 1960s and 1970s artists they were musically influenced by. In the following years, the style was adopted by English musicians, models and internet personalities including Pete Doherty, Alexa Chung, Kate Moss and Agyness Deyn, who brought the style into mainstream popularity while expanding it into a more maximalist style which also embraced elements of 1980s and 1990s fashion. Indie sleaze's embrace by the mainstream in the mid–2000s was an optimistic response to the Great Recession and led to a rise in amateur flash photography and hedonistic partying and drug use.

It experienced a resurgence in the early 2020s, when the style was first named and became popular on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.^[1]