Leather jackets, leopard prints, peplums: Kate Moss' style makes a comeback

Indie sleaze was one of Kate Moss's signature styles in the late 2000s. Photo: AFP

The days of quiet luxury and its slightly haughty vision of good taste are giving way to a far more provocative sartorial style dubbed "indie sleaze", which may be familiar to millennials who experimented with the look in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Leather jackets, leopard-print coats, low-rise pants, peplum tops, rock band logos and thick-soled boots are all making a comeback, reviving an aesthetic synonymous with fashion icons like Kate Moss and Alexa Chung.

Think non-stop indie music, a love of the Gossip Girl show, a taste for non-conformism, and a penchant for Moss' grunge style, and you've more or less encapsulated the trend.

This was very popular in the late aughts and early 2010s, and seems to be on the rise again on the fashion scene.

In total contrast to the phenomenally successful quiet luxury trend of 2023, this style, worn by fashion icons such as Chloe Sevigny, Sienna Miller, Amy Winehouse or – as mentioned above – Moss and Chung, blends bohemian and rock inspirations with a small dose of sensuality – if not to say vulgarity – that makes all the difference.

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Surprisingly, at the end of the Y2K years, no one was talking about an indie sleaze style, but simply an indie style.

It wasn't until the end of 2021, after the Covid-19 lockdowns, that the concept became popular on the Chinese social network TikTok, notably thanks to one user, Mandy Lee (@oldloserinbrooklyn).

She links the term to a style that's sure to be familiar to many a millennial: MySpace, hipsters and other sexy/trashy inspirations.

And the resurgence of this fashion style runs somewhat counter to some of the major trends of the moment, from the clean girl aesthetic to the quest for authenticity and the understated elegance of quiet luxury.

On TikTok, the hashtag #indiesleaze already has a huge following, with no fewer than 180 million views, and is used to tag all kinds of tutorials and looks.

According to the global fashion search engine Stylight, with its 90 million annual shoppers, the trend is bringing back low-rise pants – already on the scene thanks to the Y2K resurgence – search interest for which has risen by 152% in just a few months.

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Also on the comeback are striped T-shirts (+132%), band T-shirts (+49%), chunky jewellery (+47% on Google), leather jackets (+21%), peplum tops and leopard-print coats (+19%), or shorts worn over tights (+15%).

While ballet flats and moccasins seem to have been all the rage in recent months, it would seem that this hegemony is coming to an end.

High-top Converse sneakers – a staple of the late 2000s – could be making a comeback on the fashion scene.

According to Stylight, demand for the brand has risen (+24%) in just a few months, but another brand seems to be even more popular – Dr Martens and its iconic boots, for which demand has literally exploded (+223%). – AFP Relaxnews