Emo Is The New Indie Sleaze

Indeed, while indie Cindys baulked at the idea of anyone pulling off the smudgy, smeary Hawley Arms aesthetic in a phone-first society, there’s a real affection and camaraderie around the uptick of emo outfits in London. “It’s ironically quite cheering to see that millennials are pioneering the crying-into-my-diary looks of my late teenagehood, which required trips to goth and emo mecca Oasis Market in Birmingham, for clip-in hair extensions, kohl eyeliner and after-school nose piercings,” shares fashion features editor Laura Hawkins. “I won’t be clipping the former back in any time soon, but I do love the look of a layered T-shirt and long-sleeved jersey, a Vans slip-on and anything carabiner clipped by Chopova Lowena.”

Hawkins could well be describing a recent Alexa Chung look screenshotted by more Vogue staffers than just this editor. Wearing a classic baggy black logo tee over a striped base layer, a pleated school-girl grey skirt and knee-high patent boots, Alexa’s polished take on grunger chic provoked fellow band shirt devotees, like the model Devon Ross, to declare it a “real slay”. There was not even a hint of irony in the comment section.

London street style SS25.

Acielle / Style Du Monde

Photographed by Phil Oh

“The emo style resurgence reminds me of some of the best days of my life – once an emo, always an emo,” chimes in Vogue beauty and wellness editor Hannah Coates, who once wore studded belts so heavy they pulled her signature drainpipes down and a lyric-scribbled rucksack so high it perched on her shoulders – “It was the trend!” While Pignone says he might well bring back the original studded hip-hugging accessory, there are brands putting a fashion-forward spin on the Funeral for a Friend look.

London street style SS25.

Acielle / Style Du Monde

Acielle / Style Du Monde

Chopova Lowena has cultivated a gang of loyalists who lap up every skater-adjacent product in their “niche, cool, weird” universe embellished with spoons, plastic baby toys and garden centre ornaments. Originally inspired by Emma Chopova’s outdoor sports enthusiasm and Laura Lowena-Irons’s Bulgarian heritage, their fusion of rock-climbing and folkloric fashion tropes manifested in a pleated, checked, carabiner-suspended skirt design that’s worn as a badge of honour across the capital. Now modelled, as per their newer gothic, cartoony pieces, by friends of all genders, ages, ethnicities and sizes in their electric runway shows, the brand makes a strong case for marching to the beat of your own drum – as the crux of any emo tune will tell you. To wear Chopova is to telegraph that you’re part of their team – and that matters. “I don’t think that youth culture works like that anymore,” explains Pignone. “It’s broader for people, there’s not so much identity in a certain way of dressing. I love [the emo resurgence], because it means that I have been right this entire time.”