The indie sleaze revival has brought icons like Sky Ferreira and Avril Lavigne back into our lives, and I couldn’t be more thankful. But hear me out: Maybe the muse we really need right now is Selena Gomez. From 2007 to 2011, she was Disney’s resident scene kid with the pop rock band, streaky highlights, and edgy cuff bracelets to back it up.
The background: Our story began in 2007, when Gomez landed her breakout role as the sarcastic teenage witch Alex Russo on the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place. Gomez dated singer and Jonas Brothers frontman Nick Jonas from 2008 to 2009, even appearing in the music video for “Burnin’ Up.” And soon, we started to see Gomez adopt an edgier image. In 2009, Gomez and friend turned Princess Protection Program costar Demi Lovato became embroiled in a rumored feud with Miley Cyrus and her friend Mandy. The feud played out primarily on YouTube, where Gomez, Lovato, and Cyrus took turns dissing each other on their respective channels.
(Years later, in 2016, Gomez hinted to W that Nick Jonas may have been the subject of their squabbling. “We never feuded,” she said. “We both liked the same guy when we were 16. It was just a Hilary Duff–Lindsay Lohan thing: ‘Oh, my God, we like the same boy!’ We are now completely settled in our own lives.”)
But in a way, the illusion of a rivalry worked in her favor. Having signed a record deal at 16, Gomez wasn’t interested in the “typical” pivot from Disney to solo pop career. Instead she campaigned to form the band Selena Gomez and the Scene. “I named my band the Scene because a lot of people are making fun of me calling me a ‘wannabe scene,’ so I thought I would poke fun [at] that,” Gomez wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “Can’t beat ’em join ’em! Haha.”
In a YouTube video documenting band tryouts, Gomez cited Paramore and Fall Out Boy as key inspiration. “I wanted a band because I wanted to be a little different…. My label really didn’t want me to have a band,” she said.
The look: Scene was a subculture that reigned supreme from 2006 to 2013—a period that perfectly coincided with the four seasons Gomez spent on Wizards. At the height of hipsterdom, she was one of the most visible women in pop culture. And her wardrobe incorporated many of the MySpace and Tumblr-driven trends that defined the late aughts and early 2010s.
Think Jeffrey Campbell Litas, disco pants and V-neck tees from American Apparel, layered tanks, stacks of bracelets, beanies, flannel, cardigans, fedoras, scarves, stripes, cropped vests and motorcycle jackets, flatironed hair with deep side bangs, and worst of all, shutter shades. The influential nightlife photographer Cobra Snake once described indie sleaze to as a rebellion against the “elite styles” of the early ’00s, such as blinged-out Juicy Couture tracksuits and Ugg boots. Of course, by the end of the decade, hipster fashion ended up becoming a punch line itself.
Nothing encapsulates Gomez’s scene-kid era better than this clip from the 2007 Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party. In it, Gomez excitedly shows off her new highlights to an interviewer. “I’ve got some blue going on!” she exclaims. “I like a little edge, a little pop in my hair. So I wanted to add something different, especially for the Teen Vogue party.” The iconic speech was turned into a TikTok audio in 2020, and Gomez used the soundbite in a TikTok of her own last year.
In 2008, Gomez dyed the streaks red before letting them fade to bleach blonde. And from that point onward, her style began to soften. Gomez immortalized this transitional phase of her style evolution with the release of her Kmart clothing line Dream Out Loud—a mash-up of rock-inspired details like unfinished hems and studded belts and boho chic elements like wooden charm necklaces and floral print skirts. “I love scarves, and long necklaces and cute bangles,” Gomez told . “It’s constantly changing, which is cool. It will change with me.”
At the end of 2010—a fateful year for Gomez—she announced her decision to stop wearing her purity ring and start dating pop star Justin Bieber, the person she’d spend the next eight years falling in and out of love with.
In 2011, Gomez released her final album with the Scene and ditched her beanies, circle scarves, and Converse for good. She dabbled in lo-fi indie fashion again in 2017 during her “Fetish” and “Bad Liar” era—the creative byproduct of Gomez’s budding friendship with photographer Petra Collins. But meeting longtime stylist Kate Young in 2014 helped Gomez define the mature, glamorous look she’s known for today.
The legacy: Scene and hipster fashion eventually trickled down and become so ubiquitous that it was deemed irretrievably uncool. And some of it, rightfully so. But less than a decade later, indie sleaze is back thanks to the resurgence of pop punk with Gen Z eboys and egirls.
Brands like Kenzo, Gucci, Miu Miu, and Saint Laurent are sending moto jackets, ballet flats, and other indie sleaze staples down the runway. Flip phones, film cameras, and wired earbuds are decidedly in. And tellingly, another recession is on the horizon. As author Rose Dommu recently theorized on the pop culture podcast Like a Virgin, the rise of indie sleaze was (and clearly, still is) inextricably tied to the looming threat of economic downturn.
In these trying times, I’m holding out hope that Selena’s forthcoming third solo album is a rock record. One can dream out loud, I suppose!
