| Written by Benjamin Tay,
on Tuesday, 8 January 2008
|
Published in : Culture, Music |
We have a pet name for someone who dresses in an indie
manner: Indie Jones. This is inspired by, but has nothing to do with Indiana
Jones as he neither dresses indie nor hail from — as a friend of mine recently
mistook ‘indie’ to mean — India.
The indie movement has been around for quite a while now.
And we know it’s here to stay. Over here at Youth.SG, we’re not exactly your
Anna Wintour or Marc Jacobs, but I suppose we know a thing or two about
dressing indie. That said; believe me when I say that it isn’t hard to spot an indie
dude when you see one — because indie folks dress in a distinctive manner.
In fact, indie has become so vastly popular, it’s almost
becoming mainstream. Unfortunately, this popularity brings with it a lot of indie
wannabes, so nowadays it’s getting harder to distinguish the genuine indie folks
from the posers. Urgh.
Anyway, while Youth.SG was at the Love is Indie Air concert last month (awesome stuff), we saw lotsa
folks decked in indie gear. Naturally, that was expected, since it was an indie
concert (duh). And since there isn’t an official How-to-Dress-Indie list, we’ve
decided to make one of our own.
Disclaimer: All this is for good fun, of course. We strongly
discourage poserism. :)
INDIE CHECKLIST:
 Band Tees
Why, since being indie is all about music to begin with, we shall
start the list with indie band tees. Well, it’s not just indie bands like The
Whitest Boy Alive or Deerhoof, actually. Old-school band tees such as ones of The
Beatles and The Rolling Stones qualify as well. Avoid tees featuring crass
mass-produced pop acts like the plague.
 Thick-framed Glasses
(Horn-rimmed/Cat-eyed)
A must have in the geeky-indie arsenal. Picture Seth Cohen in
full geek god mode with glasses. He’d have made a true-blue indie poster boy.
Anyhow, these glasses require the right sort of hair to pull it off. Coiffed successfully,
a person wearing glasses will radiate an indie glow. Of course, this isn’t a
must, since not everyone needs glasses, or can pull it off.
 Jet Black Messy Hair - Spiky, Slightly
greasy
And speaking of the correct hairstyle, this is it yo: messy
black hair that makes you look like you’ve just gotten out of bed, you scruffy
can’t-bother-about-the-world dude. Another key essential to looking indie.
 Converse Sneakers (preferably
dark-coloured or faded/rugged)
There can only be one.
Only one type of footwear, we mean. No sneakers = Not indie. Well, it’s not too
much of a trouble, since pretty much everyone owns a pair at least these days.
Everywhere you go, you see sneakers. And why not? If popular indie bands are
still wearing them, they should still be cool, right?
 Whatever Piercings
Not a must-have, but having piercings will propel you upwards,
where you can then be a cut above the rest. Not too many piercings of course, just
a couple of tasteful ones at the correct spots (I won’t say where) to finish off
that touch of indie.
 Accessories – Jewellery, wristbands,
leather bands, bangles etc
Wearing the correct accessories can transform a non-indie
looking person to an absolutely indie-ish one. Mixing and matching is the way
to go, but it’s not always that easy finding the perfect accessories to go with
your outfit. Nevertheless, throwing in a couple goes a long way to spruce up
the look. Get a funky necklace to match your leather band — the idea is there.
 Fitting Vintage Slogan Tees
Band tees aside, vintage slogan tees form a vital fraction
in your indie wardrobe arsenal. Lots of these slogan tees can be found online,
many of which are produced vintage-style. Check out sites like
urbanoutfitters.com or palmercash.com if you need an idea. Unless you’re very hardcore,
most people don’t actually do/mean what the slogans on their shirts claim.
 Checkered Shirts
Self-explanatory. The very kind that might look like it got
cut from your mom’s table cloth and salvaged from a lifetime’s worth of
table-waiting. Adds some much-needed variety to your everyday indie sartorial line-up.
 Dark-Coloured Skinnies
You might’ve noticed the rather muted colours of indie ness.
Well, that’s because our darling indie is a distant relative of emo, which
holds the colour black in very high-esteem. Therefore, don’t expect much of
loud orange or sunny yellow in your colour range. Similarly, this rule applies
for jeans well. In terms of cutting, get a trusty pair of slim-fit or skinny
jeans, whichever you prefer. Guys should check that their jewels can breathe
though. Denim blue, dark blue, black, grey are ideal colours.
- Messenger bags covered with pins/badges/patches
- To finish off the look, cover up your messenger bag with
pins, badges or patches. This one is optional though. As much as I respect the indie
culture, this can go a little over the top. Well, okay, maybe a couple of heartfelt slogan badges, but
not something as pictured on the left.
And there you have it! There may be more, but since we like
the number '10' we’re capping it off at ten. Otherwise, that’s pretty much what
it takes to look indie. Ahem, we stress, LOOK
indie. LOOK ONLY. In line with the
aforementioned, we don’t hope to see the streets saturated with indie-looking
folks when half of them don’t even listen to indie (poserism = bad).
Speaking of indie music, support LOCAL BANDS! If you’re mildly
interested – there are tons of local indie bands out there that play good
music. The Great Spy Experiment, Caracal, Allura, Tiramisu and many others are definitely
worth more than a listen. Think about it — it's only when the locals support the
locals that we can make our mark on the map!
Of course, we're not telling you to boycott foriegn indie acts. :)
|
(0 vote)
