TikTok loves nostalgia and has been responsible for some of the biggest cultural shifts of the last 12 months. First, it brought back low-rise jeans (much to the disapproval of every 20-something person who hated them the first time), closely followed by other now-retro items including ballet flats and bucket hats.
And now, they’re bringing back the Hedi Boy, also known as the ultimate indie sleaze icon of the 2000s.
The name comes from Hedi Slimane, former creative director of Dior and Saint Laurent, responsible for some of the most long-standing trends in menswear at that time.
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Think guitar-clad boy bands with skinny jeans and leather jackets, sealed off with floppy hair, sunglasses, and a pack of cigarettes.
He was the ‘it’ boy of that time, and the same genre of guy every supermodel had on her arm. The kings of the Tumblr era, if you will.
The Hedi Boys originally rose to the top after the likes of The Strokes and The Libertines, which were considered cool bands, were gifted clothes from Slimane’s collections and became the blueprint for every edgy teen’s fashion.
And it would turn out that despite 2007 being almost two decades ago, they’re still roaming the streets, and after TikToker Emma Winder documented their “invasion” – it would seem we could be set for an indie revival.
Searching around London for the Hedi crowd, she interviewed self-proclaimed Hedi Boys about what it means to be one.
“Skinny jeans, pointy boots, leather jacket, and probably a blonde Mod cut”, one told her.
Another skinny jean-clad man added: “There are a few key attributes that make a Hedi Boy a Hedi Boy…black coffee for breakfast, rejected from Celine castings because they’re way shorter in real life…CSM (Central Saint Martins), studies menswear, makes leather jackets maybe?”
It’s really a lifestyle, huh?
“Is the Hedi renaissance a recession indicator?”, one person wrote in the comments.
“So it’s just Noel Fielding?”, another chimed in.
“It’s 2000s older brother all over again”, someone else penned.
Keep your winkle pickers close and your black turtleneck even closer because Hedi Boys are officially back on the map.
Why not read…
The Ice Bucket Challenge returns a decade on – but it’s not without controversy
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