In pictures: the feral fashion addicts at Manchester’s club KOMA

Last month in Manchester, the city’s young fashion addicts came out in full force for KOMA. Founded in early 2023, the self-described “movement” operates from both Manchester and Tokyo via its club offering KOMA-oto, curating themed nights for its internet-obsessed, youth-focused community. “Myself and Lil Farm began our KOMA-coded odyssey in summer 2022, but the first KOMA-oto club experience took place in January 2023,” says co-founder Abejisama. “Within a month of knowing one another, myself and Lil Farm became locked in, quickly bonding over our coincidentally shared vision for club culture in both Japan and the UK.”

Bridging a 5,865 mile gap between the two cities, the duo’s visual world on flyers and Instagram pulls from Y2K video games, while the sound of their parties consists of “internet-fuelled subgenres and traditional club sounds.” Past editions have seen artists like Two Shell take to the stage, with Japanese trance group Minna-no-Kimochi headlining the latest night, and KOMA community acts like Ship Sket and Six-winged Hilda “reminding us that UK club music doesn’t need to be confined by genres.”

This cross-cultural, hyper-referential, magpie approach is reflected in the fashion, too. At KOMA-oto the style is a smorgasbord of different influences, with attendees rocking up in all manner of hemmed together looks and attention-grabbing accessories. A chainmail headpiece and Russian trapper hat bump heads as two boys cosy up for the camera, while another attendee accessorises with an England flag, just before our Euros misery. One raver is possessed by the spirit of Kawaii in fake paws and neon pink stompers, while others rep London in Corteiz’s finest gear. Elsewhere, chains and accessories are ferociously layered as if lives depended on it, with stacked pearls, black beads and bug-eyed sunnies appearing on all but a few.

If there was some sort of theme, though, it might be ketamine chic, that internet-birthed rehashing of 2010s swagcore, seen here in Fortnite tees, COMME des FUCKDOWN hoodies, and an ‘I’m with stupid’ metal belt buckle. But before we can confirm if that’s the truth, we’re off again, with a 2000s disc belt repurposed as a boob tube, more indie sleaze studded belts wrapped around waists, and an ironic Union Jack hair clip tacked into some orange hair. At KOMA-ota, the fashion can’t even keep up with itself, a feral rendering of a generation unbound by the style edicts of before. “It happened organically,” says Abejisama, when asked about the night’s fractured fashion. “I feel the freedom of dress is a reflection of the freedom felt within.”

Scroll through the gallery above to see all the feral looks.