Remember the grungy power couple? No? Think Mr Kurt Cobain and Ms Courtney Love. Ms Pamela Anderson and Mr Tommy Lee’s 1995 beach wedding, after a four-day courtship. Mr Brad Pitt and Ms Gwyneth Paltrow later that decade, when they wore a lot of black leather. Or maybe Mr Pete Doherty and Ms Kate Moss looking like they were on a perpetual comedown throughout the mid-2000s.

Characterised by celebrity duos who dressed in a way that was moody and gothic, but occasionally super glamorous, the grungy celebrity power couple had largely been consigned to the fashion history books. But in 2021, and much like Ms Lindsay Lohan’s acting career, it appears to have been rescued from obscurity. Next year, a highly anticipated biopic about Anderson and Lee (Pam & Tommy) will air on Hulu, showing that our love affair with the grunge power couple is not over yet. And it’s not just nostalgia driving the trend; fashion history seems to be repeating itself, too.

The man leading the charge is Machine Gun Kelly, the American rapper who favours vivid Berluti suits, Rick Owens boots and Balmain jackets (worn with nothing underneath to show off as much of his ink as possible), with some crucifix jewellery thrown in for good measure. His looks are peacockish and flamboyant – he wears a lot of pink and often has pearls around his neck – and his stylist, Mr Adam Ballheim, is clearly all over what’s going on in menswear right now.

MGK’s relevance has been helped in no small part by his PDA-heavy relationship with Ms Megan Fox, the Mugler-clad actress whom the Los Angeles Times called “the first bona fide sex symbol of the 21st century”. The two have been pictured together frequently since they got together last year and are one of the finest-dressed couples in LA right now. Plus, in a move reminiscent of Ms Angelina Jolie and Mr Billy Bob Thornton – another OG grungy power couple, who famously wore vials of each other’s blood around their necks while they were married in the early 2000s – Fox reportedly gifted MGK a necklace with an orb containing a drop of her blood for Valentine’s Day this year. And really, what says “I love you” more than bodily fluids made into jewellery?

Fox and MGK aren’t the only ones pioneering the grungy power couple renaissance. Enter Mr Travis Barker and Ms Kourtney Kardashian. The Blink 182 drummer was described by The Guardian as “the most influential man in music” today, thanks to the number of artists he’s been working with lately (everyone from Ms Willow Smith and Lil Huddy to Trippie Redd). His coupling with one of the most prominent members of the de facto first American family can surely only help his cause. With him in checked flannel shirts and trousers with skulls and cross bones printed down the legs and her in leather chaps, it’s clearly a match made in Hollywood. There haven’t been any reports of them wearing blood-filled accessories yet, but the next age of the grungy power couple has only just begun. We’re all just living through it.