With ketamine chic and retro indie sleaze at the heart of their style, the Online & Underground cohort are inspired by old-skool grunge, 2000s and 2010s nostalgia, punky messiness, and hardware-heavy metal fan vibes. But it’s not all about nostalgia, as internet culture, meme-based irony and 2020s maximalism also play a part in the mash-up aesthetic.

Tastes and personal styling cues are eclectic, and the visual effect is purposefully discordant. It’s also worth noting that this cohort has scant concern for sustainability credentials, possessing anarchic, even doomist attitudes towards consumerism and the future of the planet. However, thrifting and upcycling are embedded in the DNA of their look. Cities with a strong music culture – such as London, LA and New York – are where the collective is resonating most obviously, as well as in European cultural hubs like Stockholm and Berlin.

This cohort’s lifescape centres around gigs, clubs and party nights, where they can enjoy live music often performed by lesser-known rappers and DJs, as well as around dress-up and making social media content together.

Inspired in equal parts by goth/emo culture and rap/hip-hop influences, musicians who integrate alternative culture and its associated themes and fashion with electronic sounds are key. Soundcloud rap and its pioneers are responsible for the trend, with artists such as Swedish-American Lil Peep, Michigan-born Bones as well as Sweden’s Yung Lean and Bladee all resonating with the cohort. Also check out American rapper Yeat, whose music formed the soundtrack for TikTok trend Gentleminions, in which young people visited cinemas worldwide dressed in suits and gowns to watch Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru.

One of their favoured club nights in the UK is Swagchella, popular amongst London’s alternative and online youth, and with live performances by musicians such as Swedish collective Boysnightsout, viral musician Ezekiel and Glaswegian Juju. Adjacent to Swagchella is London’s Yassification Party, which garners its name from an internet meme that originally referred to making something more LGBTQ+ aligned. The slang’s meaning has grown and can now also refer to femininity or beauty.

Organisers and attendees of such club nights were recently spotlit in a Dazed fashion feature entitled How Ketamine Chic Became the New Heroin Chic. Interviewees spoke about their fascination with consumer culture, and the maximalist joy in embracing and satirising the meaninglessness of internet trends and late stage capitalism.

Much of this cohort’s style and lifescape are influenced by and heavily feed off online culture, where their lives are documented via Instagram stories, TikTok outfit checks, Pinterest mood boards, and widely circulated memes, sounds and opinions.

Visual culture, art and media are extremely important, and members of this group hoard and archive imagery both online and IRL (in real life) in the form of merch-led clothing, albums, posters and memorabilia. For this reason, online visual archives such as New York-based @visitnymph – whose curators collect, scan and save Japanese merchandise from the 90s and 00s – are super popular.

The Online & Underground collective’s media tastes also branch into film. Harmony Korine’s 1997 movie Gummo, Danny Boyle’s 1996 classic Trainspotting, and the lesser known but visually striking 1995 release Fallen Angels, directed by Wong Kar-wai, are especially popular.

In terms of brands and designers, Online & Underground’s preferences are eclectic, with some unexpected luxury-level influences contrasting with more obvious thrifted and upcycled go-tos.

The popularity of Marc Jacobs’ Heaven sub-brand amongst last year’s Goth Lovers cohort sees no sign of abating amongst this evolved group, and the aforementioned Bladee has recently collaborated with the label on a collection. Other high-end names important to their brandscape include US-made Chrome Hearts for its heavy-duty jewellery and sigil-inspired imagery; and Rick Owens, for his merging of gothic style with contemporary attitude and his iconic Geobasket shoes.

Similarly high end but more independent, Brit Ashley Williams is super popular with the collective for her mash-up, kitschy creativity. She has collaborated with Camden street-style photographer Daisy Davidson’s Hysteric Fashion on a series of shots that sum up the group’s vibe. Williams’ garments have also been seen on many influencers linked to the cohort, such as London-based gamer and model Jess Strawberry, otherwise known as @soulgem.online.

In addition, True Religion is popular for denim – which may in part be because of Californian musician Sematary’s loyalty to the label. The rapper, who has gained a cult following on Soundcloud and Tumblr and is a figurehead for this collective, is often seen sporting the brand’s jean jackets and trousers.

On a thriftier footing, and as seen in last year’s Goth Lovers report, is Yard 666 Sale – an online store boasting 75k followers on Instagram. Its owner Dane’s designs are upscaled, mismatched, thrifted and DIYed from various readymade garments, then adorned with machine-stitched slogans and cartoon characters. The popularity of his shop has been boosted by his bizarre TikTok videos, which have been reproduced and memed all over the internet.

In general, second-hand is perhaps even more important to this cohort than their predecessors, whether it’s enjoyed via car boot sales, resale apps like Depop, Vinted and eBay, or charity shops and thrift stores. Sought after items include slogan tees (one of the hallmarks of this collective) and shirts often many sizes too small or too large, with block text satirical slogans or illustrations from South Park or Minions.

Meanwhile, kitsch is explored via accessories (hats, sunglasses, visors, boots) that are not only oversized, but also embellished with diamantes, fur and studs. See the popular image of Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith wearing such accessories, which is often reposted amongst this cohort as a meme and emulated in IRL looks. When it comes to footwear, classic Australian Ugg boots are popular among females in this cohort, while unisex favourites include sturdy boots from Spanish brand New Rock as featured in last year’s Goth Lovers report.

In terms of engagement, there is a cynicism and irony at play amongst this cohort. They embrace hyper consumerism, indulging in maximal quantities of product imagery and physical products. And they have a comically nihilistic worldview which means that, while they are conscious of world issues, Online & Underground kids have little hope for the future.

In fact, their social and political engagement position could be described as ‘doomerist’. The ‘doomer’ is a variation on the ‘Wojak’ character popularised on 4chan forum boards. This meme has become well-known across many social media platforms, embodying young people with fatalist views on problems such as climate change, overpopulation, and peak oil.

However, despite their gloomy disposition, the Online & Underground cohort are as socially aware as any other young people on social media. There’s a particular focus on mental health services, destigmatisation, harm reduction for addicts and, most importantly, the negative impacts of late-stage capitalism, and the overproduction and consumerism it creates. One resounding meme has been spawned by new research about microplastics being found in water sources worldwide and even in human blood, with variations on ‘I love drinking microplastics’ becoming widely reposted by them online, and even made into T-shirts.

It might not be the easiest cohort to tap commercially but if you possess hyper-authentic messaging and can fuse that with a tinge of irony or sardonic humour, you could find yourself becoming a favoured brand amongst this hard to penetrate group.

In addition to the rappers and bands described in the Lifescape section, other musical artists of influence include LA’s Niqbo and Baymack, as well as South Korea’s Digital Dav.

Androgynous models are prominent as influencers in this sphere. See American @angel__emoji who has modelled for Miu and Celine, and who solidifies the importance of music to the cohort with their own electronic project, Frost Children. In a similar vein, London’s @guccisamo also appeals with an androgynous, grungey look that has led him to model for Balenciaga, as well as his personal projects including performing as part of Soundcloud music collective Goonhaus.

One of the most influential TikTok figures amongst this cohort is US-based Luke Blovad, who has garnered 385k followers in a little over a year. Their videos showcase their style and attitude with signature middle finger thrown up at the camera, often sporting gothic bondage trousers by brands such as Tripp NYC and Criminal Damage. They also favour fur yeti boots, oversized wraparound sunglasses by Dior, and T-shirts emblazoned with characteristically 2010s block text slogans like ‘Sexy and I know it’, memes, cartoon characters, and pop-culture iconography.

Our five-track Online & Underground playlist features Swoopy, Yeat, Babydoublecup, Bones, Bladee and Yung Lean.