The Life and Afterlife of Indie Sleaze

The Life and Afterlife of Indie Sleaze

Featuring bands like The Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the documentary “Meet Me in the Bathroom” looks back at the rock ’n’ roll party scene in the time of indie sleaze – the 2000s punk-chic aesthetic that Hedi Slimane helped define.
Featuring bands like The Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the documentary “Meet Me in the Bathroom” looks back at the rock ’n’ roll party scene in the time of indie sleaze – the 2000s punk-chic aesthetic that Hedi Slimane helped define.

T he documentary “Meet Me in the Bathroom,” making its theatrical debut on 11 November, arrives just as the fascination with the pop culture of the aughts reaches a fever pitch. Directed by British filmmakers Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, the movie takes as its topic Lizzy Goodwin’s 2017 book of the same name.

Both film and book vividly recall New York City’s indie music scene from roughly the dawn of the millennium through the subsequent ten years. While the tome unfolds through more than 150 interviews with musicians, journalists, record producers, managers, publicists and other figures who were formative to the zeitgeist of the decade, the documentary focuses on a few key bands and legendary personas in their orbits – among them, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

Photos by Hedi Slimane, Courtesy Celine

As more of a complement than retelling of the text, the documentary offers a treasure trove of archival audiovisual material capturing live concerts, media appearances as well as ample behind-the-scenes and otherwise private moments of band members and associates. “We wanted to make a film that really kept you in the moment, that was a time capsule for that period,” explains Lovelace.

Frequently recorded by handheld camcorder, the atmosphere that’s conveyed – relaxed, spontaneous, unafraid of a hot mess – stands in such stark contrast to today’s predominantly hyperpolished and rigidly executed visual landscape that viewers may paradoxically feel struck with a sense of unreality in taking in the original heyday of a vibe that’s only recently been dubbed “indie sleaze.”

“It was a different time to be a young person because you weren’t being filmed all the time,” says Southern, noting the creative freedom musicians had without the expectation of documenting their entire lives online. “It was the last period when musicians and artists could still have a bit of mystery around them and protect their own mythology.”

“You can’t keep coming of age. It’s a sort of transitory period – that flush of youth and creativity.”
- Dylan Southern

Yet the magnetism of the scene, even two decades out, is still able to bring together those who participated in the emergence of the ethos. Look no further than Celine’s Hedi Slimane and his immediate interest in “Meet Me in the Bathroom” upon getting wind of the film project. Slimane was the unrivaled wunderkind of menswear in the aughts: he was appointed at the helm of Dior Homme in 2000 while only 32, soon after becoming the first to win the CFDA International Designer award for menswear. In 2007, he briefly stepped away from fashion to focus on photography, releasing “Anthology of a Decade: 2000–2010” four years later. The sum impact of Slimane’s celebrity photographs offers a look into the downtown-style and seedy glamour of the era across cultural genres, spanning not only music but fashion, skaters and surfers, actors and beyond.

Slimane also designed the poster for “Meet Me in the Bathroom” and was responsible for a number of striking photographs from the period. They include shots of the Statue of Liberty and a tattered American flag – perhaps in homage to the post-9/11 trauma that spurred the oft-bittersweet undercurrents as the era progressed. The frenzied, trauma-driven party vibe is summoned in blurry snaps of stage lights, stacks of backstage utility trunks and a wash of metallic streamers.

Photos by Hedi Slimane, Courtesy Celine

At one screening, Southern was struck by the number of people dressed in modern-day indie sleaze – people old enough to have lived through the aughts and people too young to have seen the period firsthand. “It felt like this classic thing that precipitates the end of an era,” he says. “You can’t keep coming of age. It’s a sort of transitory period – that flush of youth and creativity.”

Thinking back to a moment when it seemed bands imitating The Strokes were popping up in every country, Southern reminisces: “It can never be as special as it was at the start.”

Meet Me in the Bathroom” is in theaters now and streaming on select services starting 24 February 2023.

Header image: Hedi Slimane

Fashion

About the Author

More from Sotheby's

Stay informed with Sotheby’s top stories, videos, events & news.

Receive the best from Sotheby’s delivered to your inbox.

By subscribing you are agreeing to Sotheby’s Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe from Sotheby’s emails at any time by clicking the “Manage your Subscriptions” link in any of your emails.

(C) 2025 Sotheby's
All alcoholic beverage sales in New York are made solely by Sotheby's Wine (NEW L1046028)
arrow Created with Sketch. Back To Top