Meet London’s new fashion archetypes — from Fizzy Tillys to a Gorpy joshi

You may or may not be aware of @socks_house_meeting; I write about the fizzy, litty, lengy, tappy tap tap characters of London, in memes which centre on social media trending fashion, places to be seen and places to eat. Think Dan Ashcroft in Nathan Barley in 2023 with ADHD.

How did it all start? Well, I basically combined having a bit of a screw loose, a decent-ish sense of observation and a penchant for Bottom-era Rik Mayall weird vocabulary and it seemed to resonate; it grew a bit and then quite a bit and now I’m here, (20,000 followers). Twenty years since the world became aware of ‘hipsters’ (the term was born around 2003, same year as MySpace) there’s a whole new strata of fashion folk stalking the streets of the capital.

Some of the words I use to describe them might, I imagine, make no sense to you, mainly because they’re a combination of TikTok buzzwords and re-hashed post-millennium ideas of youth culture, all sprinkled with the neurodivergent rhetoric that I use on a day-to-day basis. But that’s why we’re here: consider this your guide to the fizzy world of London micro trends, and the people who propagate them.

Silly Billys/Cheeky Chappies

We all know what these phrases mean, they’ve been around far longer than I’ve existed. However, to put into context in a SHM rhetoric: they’re early 2000s Robbie Williams/Tom Hardy, transposed to now. They’re the cheeky boys of the pubs around Dalston and Hackney, winking to the fans on TikTok and Insta, wearing the little crop toppy T-shirts and fizzy biker jackets, thin wire frame glasses or oversized Robert de Niro-in-Casino sunnies. Think the charm of Jude Law in Alfie but laid on you by Rik Mayall in Drop Dead Fred. Can usually be found at the Spurstowe Arms and the Prince George, in case you weren’t wondering.

Sphere of influence: usually a barista or bar back at Dalston boozers or cafés in between creative design work at home in their two-bed off London Fields.

Fizzy Tillys

The Fizzy Tillys are the CSM- and Goldsmiths-educated daughters of a cross between the mum in About a Boy (played by Toni Collette) and Olivia Colman in Fleabag. They enjoy a very dry tobacco pouch, loose filters, messy hair, big jeans, and Dad’s Amex in the bottom of the tote. You’ll find them knocking about the Shacklewell Arms, listening to Giant Swan do a guest mix on NTS on an iPod classic they “foraged” from a chazza.

Sphere of influence: Coal Drops Yard or SET in Peckham — predominantly because of the notable university campuses nearby these locations. Be kind, otherwise you’ll be scurried away from the door of the after school club (SET).

Fink like TikTok bus stop bois

These fall close to the cheeky chappie, silly billy’s, however you can spot them in the wild through a very specific mating dance. Performed into the confines of a stood-up iPhone balanced delicately on the seat at a bus stop, doing a walkaway fit check while some old dear strolls past wondering what on she’s witnessing.

Sphere of influence: they don’t work in a strict 9-5 way as they’re always running between modelling gigs or doing coverage for a brand activation of an evening event.

Tappy tap tap knee-high characters

These are the four-to-the-floor, Alexa play What Have I Done to Deserve This? by the Pet Shop Boys featuring Dusty Springfield, tappy tap tap girlies and bois you will see around most of London. Think knee-high cowboy boots or uniform, smart black leather boots tapping down the pavement in Dalston, followed by a pair of Oakley sports sunnies, MotoGP cropped biker racing jacket or Nineties Brazil track top with hair tied up, slick back, flawless lippy and a smol Prada purse/bag. You can run into these characters all over London, certainly in Peckham, Stoke Newington and Soho as a big focal point.

Sphere of influence: PR/social for dazed, ID, Vice, high sobriety or any nondescript social media in general.

Gorpy joshi (the Gorpcore)

This seems to be a well-known trend. Gorpcore relates to a substrata of society (correct me if I’m wrong, people who wake up at 5:46am to drive to Snowdonia in £987 Arc’teryx hiking gear): couples, singles, groups of people who work a certain look. Think Arc’teryx Gore-tex zip-up raincoat, cleated Berghaus storm walking elasticated hiking trousers, Salomon drawstring XT6 trekking shoes and Oakley polarised chrome orange tinted lens sunnies. Now imagine all that but outside a pub in Dalston Kingsland on a Thursday evening. You can also find them in Shoreditch outside the Pride of Spitalfields making rollies and chirpsing the litty knee-high tappy tap tap characters. They used to date the Fizzy Tillys.

Sphere of influence: quite a spread of different careers but to be able to afford the garments and to have the flexibility to work from Snowdon ... they’re likely to be graphic designers.