As somebody that was a teen in the ’00s, I love looking back on that era. Realistically, it wasn’t a simpler time but for me, it feels like it was. I didn’t know about council tax bills or billionaires but I did know about the beef between My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday. I knew that I would have given anything for an H&M hoodie and I knew, as I trudged home with soaked ankles from my baggy jeans, that we were the most stylish generation yet.
So imagine my absolute horror when I came across the account “Great British 00s Indie Images” which went very quickly from being a trip down Nostalgia Lane to a massive thump back to reality. Gen Z are right. Millennials are embarrassing.
What I think we were going for, just going on my hazy memories, is a sort of “chill” look. Especially the alternative and emo kids, shall we say. But looking at this photo of The Kooks, all I see is... brown. The band look like they’ve quickly gotten dressed after a house party and been photographed on the way.
Why were all the cuffs of our jeans frayed like this? Why did we love the faded look so much?
There is an argument to be made that musicians are just a little too polished these days and that actually, the days of artists dressing like your mate’s stoner big brother were the glory days and while I agree... maybe there’s a middle ground? Maybe Topshop could have aimed a little higher?
OK, I’m a little too dyspraxic to try to both pull this off and actually walk without falling but I will admit, we did pop off with the side fringe. Imagine the pic above without the classic ’00s accessory of a side fringe? Exactly. It’s the perfect finishing touch and if you dress like we did in the ‘00s, that is to say, badly, then you can rely on the good ol’ side fringe to keep you looking chic.
No? Just me? Oh well.
The Enemy, for many people, were the band for a generation. It’s giving strong midlands accents, it’s giving The Jam for millennials, it’s giving Angus Thongs & Perfect Snogging vibes. To this day, I can’t listen to Away From Here without instinctively bopping my head.
In these outfits though? They’re just lads I bumped into at an ill-advised house party. I do remember pining over that striped hoodie for months and every other guy I knew had one.
The Zutons. At T4 On The Beach.
You know what, maybe those really were the glory days.
Still, would it have killed us to lay off the brown shades a bit?