A quick doomscroll on TikTok reveals that Generation Z has a totally different attitude to nostalgia than Millennials. Namely: they get nostalgic about stuff that they haven't actually lived through. And they're picky too; while you're still banging on about the return of turkey twizzlers (they're back and you haven't bought them), the slay generation are taking style cues from Noughties subcultures and pulling together interesting pastiches in the process.
Timothée Chalamet is a sartorial figurehead in that space, despite falling between the two generations; a ‘zillenial’, if you will. He showed the world that a guy can pull off a sequinned halterneck, and that skinny jeans do have a place on the catwalk once again. And now, with his most recent look, he’s bound to inspire Gen Z to start looking to the likes of Julian Casablancas and Jack White for outfit inspo.
Spotted in New York yesterday, the 27-year-old looked as if he’d walked straight out of band practice. An eyelet-embellished, Alexander McQueen leather jacket took centre stage against crepe trousers and white trainers, accessorised with the Airpods and a baseball cap, and finessed with a guitar case. (Empty? We'll never know...)
The look is part of a particular sub-section of the 'indie sleaze' aesthetic, one where band frontmen are held up to sartorial messiah status. Despite getting regularly papped falling out of clubs with a Marlborough Gold in hand and having their ‘controlled’ drug habits aired to the world, nothing could bring down the reputation of these stars during the noughties. In fact, it had the opposite effect. An age before meditation apps and green juice, they gave the impression that their ruthless lifestyle was actually the quintessence of fun – even when you know you shouldn’t approve of it.
Documentary film Meet Me In The Bathroom, which was released at the tail end of last year, encapsulates this thought process through documentation of the New York music scene in the early 2000s. It follows the lives of The Strokes (the documentary’s name is one of the songs from their early discography), Interpol, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more, making captivating viewing and prime sartorial stimulus. Slowly but surely, the visual allure of indie music seems to be reemerging in the zeitgest, and further evidence can be found on the runways of Paris and Milan.
Dsquared2 presented a model with a holey, metallic typography tee paired with star-shaped knee patch jeans. While Gucci’s inter-designer collection, equipped with sequins, burglar beanies and sheer shirting, seemed to evoke almost every era of rock 'n' roll history, from glam to goth, and everything in between. And lest we forget the parka, which had a chokehold on Brit-Pop artists of that era, came in multiple colourways at Dries Van Noten.
So, expect to see a few more Gallagher tributes in your local soon. And perhaps think twice about ditching the skinny jeans.
