The Y2K Aesthetic Explained - YouTube

As we enter the new decade it's always fun to  look back at the past and anticipate the future.  

With the 2010s finally coming to an end  it's interesting to note how cyclical  

fashion can be and how many trends came  back during the last half of the decade.  

I'm mostly talking about the revival of Y2K and  McBling. With the sudden resurgence of these two  

aesthetics, and how closely in time they happen  from one another, it's easy to get them confused  

and merge them together. But I'm here to finally  set the record straight. Y2K and McBling are not  

the same and I'm here to talk about how they're  separate from one another and how they came to be.

The Y2K aesthetic got its name from  the computer bug of the same name.  

It reached its height in the years 1997 to 2001  and encompasses many aspects of life like fashion,  

music, and furniture. It was an era  that really encapsulated technology  

in all things futuristic and also injected people  with an optimism about the upcoming millennium.

The art at this time was a mixture of 2D and 3D.  And with the new technology that was available  

dreaming up improbable dreamscapes and coming up  with an idea of what the future could look like  

became incredibly fun. The color palette included  but was not limited to: chrome, icy blue, green, white,  

black, and orange. But what caused the rise of this  aesthetic in pop culture? Well, let's talk about it!

Tracing back the origins of an aesthetic is never  easy just because there's so much overlap going on. 

However, the Y2K Institute is a really  good resource that really helped me out  

and if you guys want to see some archived  pictures that's the place to find them. But,  

if we're going to talk about origins we're  gonna have to go way back to the Y2K bug.  

As the new millennium approached many computer  programmers around the world began to realize  

that there was a huge flaw in the way computer  programs were written. When computers were first  

being made computer engineers used a two-digit  code for writing years instead of four digits.  

So, if the year was 1979 it was shortened to 79.  This saved them money and space at the time but  

as the year 2000 approached they realized that  the computer might interpret 00 as 1900  

and not 2000. This was a huge problem that they  thought would affect all businesses such as banks,  

insurance companies, transportation, and even  nuclear power plants. So it's a big problem. Even  

devices that contain computer chips like elevators  and medical equipment were thought to be at risk.  

Some countries like the US spent $300 billion  dollars upgrading and replacing computers  

around the country in the years leading up to  the new millennium. There was a lot of hysteria  

and misinformation being spread and they even had  guides and books on how to deal with the problem.  

Some people went as far as stocking up on food  and water before they rang in the new year.  

And then the millennium came and went and  everyone's computers were fine, bringing  

an anticlimactic end to the frenzy that was the  Y2K bug. However, this did lead to a lot of people  

claiming it was a hoax by the government, but  that's pretty much where the name Y2K came from.  

There was a lot of anxiety about the future  and what it might look like but there was  

also this excitement as well. With the rapid  technological changes in the 90s we got a  

lot more art and media that was technologically  based. The first time we truly saw a lot of this  

aesthetic was around 1995-1997. The design and  fashion of this period was very distinctive and  

very much of its era. One thing about Y2K  is that the style is so easily recognizable.  

One way you can see this distinction is through  the clothes that people wore. Now there were many  

different aesthetics going on in the 90s so  this is not reflective of how the majority of  

people dressed. This is just a look at the popular  trends and fashions that were part of y2k culture.

So to start off with sunglasses were a big  fashion statement during the 90s. Throughout  

the decade sunglasses definitely changed shape and  style according to popular movies, fashion shows, or  

celebrities that made them fashionable. Towards  the mid to late 90s during the height of Y2K  

brands like Oakley were making glasses smaller,  more colorful, and futuristic. Everyone from Aaliyah  

to Brad Pitt while wearing these types of glasses.  And who could forget the, GOAT himself. Dennis Rodman?  

This is kind of an offset of  existing fashion trends in the 90s  

baggier clothing was staple in this decade and  wearing cargo pants was another facet of this  

trend. Also making this more utilitarian and more  functional fits into the futuristic element of Y2K

aesthetic. So platform shoes of every kind were on  trend in the 90s but for this particular aesthetic  

patent leather platform boots  were definitely a must-have!

Probably inspired by the costume design and  the movie The Matrix, leather, pleather, and  

latex were popular materials to make clothes,  shoes, and handbags out of. L eather bodysuits  

were popular in music videos like Britney Spears'  "Oops... I Did It Again" and Missy Elliot's "The Rain"

Metallic makeup and accessories  were popular in this area.  

It definitely gave even ordinary things a  more otherworldly and futuristic look to them.  

High Fashion definitely took inspiration from  all the technological changes that were happening  

at the time. A staple is John Galliano's  Christian Dior show inspired by The Matrix.  

With a total of 43 looks, the first half of the  looks were very reminiscent of the movie,  

featuring the leather and utilitarian inspired  accents. And who could forget Alexander McQueen's  

Givenchy Fall 1999 show which had cybernetic  prints, metallics, and translucent pieces.

One of the things that makes the Y2K era so  interesting is that it really affected the  

world outside of clothing and vice versa.  Furniture, technology, and architecture  

had its own very unique look that was  specific to this futuristic aesthetic.

So Blobitexture was pretty much this unique  style of design where they made things like  

buildings more curved or rounded, very blob  kind of looking. This is a departure from  

harsh corners and lines. And the uncommon shapes  made things appear more revolutionary at the time.  

And this wasn't limited to buildings at all. In  fact, one of the things that made this style take  

off was actually Apple. Before they made the iMac  G3 most computers were drab and beige looking.  

At this point Microsoft was winning the computer  game by focusing on putting Windows on every  

computer. So when the iMac G3 came out it was  considered very childlike at first. Eventually  

though people resonated with the design  and it became a major hit for the company.  

So you really saw blobs on everything  from buildings, computers, and furniture.  

There were so many artists trying new things at  this time and a lot of them actually fit into the  

Y2K aesthetic. One of the ways artists did this was  through music videos. So everyone from Aaliyah, Britney  

Spears and TLC were doing Y2K inspired music  videos. One of the pioneers and most influential  

people that inspired this change was Hype Williams.  He's an amazing director who did videos for Janet  

Jackson, Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott. His use of  fish eye perspective helped define the style along  

with the futuristic set designs, and the synthetic  clothings that were metallic or latex looking.  

Other notable directors that encompassed this  style and made some of your favorite music videos  

are: Mark Romanek, Chris Cunningham, Joseph Khan,  and David Myers. Movies became another way of  

exploring the capabilities of the internet  and the fascination of the future of it.  

But the film that really drove this aesthetic  into gear was The Matrix. If you don't know it's  

a science-fiction drama about a dystopian future  where humans are trapped in a simulated reality  

so that aliens can feast on their energy  source. This movie really revolutionized film,  

grossing over $460 million worldwide and winning  four academy awards. It was highly praised for  

its cinematography, action sequences, costume  design, and is considered one of the best  

science fiction movies of all time. Their wire work  was copied in everything from Charlie's Angels  

to X-Men. And the use of slow motion and  spinning cameras inspired many films after it.  

More movies that were released that embodied this  aesthetic were are mostly futuristic or campy  

in tone looking at it retrospectively. Xenon: Girl of the 21st Century, Zoolander and Spy Kids are some more  

that come to mind. They embody this futuristic tone,  take risks, and make great technological leaps with  

their storytelling. And most of all their version  of the future is so much fun!

What caused the eventual decline of the Y2k aesthetic? Well, honestly, it was for a number of reasons. One of the biggest things  

that contributed to the fall of Y2K was the burst  of the Dotcom Bubble. The internet changed almost  

every aspect of our lives and also changed  how businesses evolved. During the late 90s  

the internet inspired a lot of people to start  businesses online and investors just assumed that  

if a business was online it would be a huge money  maker. When in fact most of these companies were  

overvalued and made little to no profit at all and  eventually the market crashed. This was a huge loss  

for people at the time and it didn't stop there  either. There was the election, 9/11, anthrax scares  

the Iraq war, all of this culminated in the  ending of the optimism people had for the future.  

The shift in culture was more luxury oriented  and nihilistic which eventually led to the  

rise of the McBling aesthetic. That was  the final nail in the coffin for Y2K.

With fashion trends being cyclical it was only a  matter of time before we saw this dead aesthetic  

rise back into the fold. Some people say that  there's been a resurgence of the y2k aesthetic  

but I'm not one of those people. Well not  completely anyways. Do I think some elements  

of the aesthetic have been taken and co-opted here  and there? Absolutely! But i think most people are  

referring to the McBling aesthetic instead of Y2K.  I believe that Y2K was a product of its time. With  

how fast technology was rapidly changing in front  of everyone's eyes and the looming millennium I  

think it makes complete sense that people were  excited for the future. I think what makes Y2K so  

distinctive is partly because of nostalgia. Looking  back at everything back then, everything seemed so  

much simpler and more fun mostly because we were  younger and technology changed so rapidly there 

wasn't much time to simply stay in that place for  very long. And with how the internet has improved  

it's so much easier for everyone to tell millions  of people how much better their childhood was  

than what's happening now. Regardless, I think  Y2K has a special place in my heart because  

you can feel the creativity and optimism in its  art form. It's wild, and alien, and colorful and  

very youthful. I definitely think it's something  that will be revisited even in years to come.  

Thank you for watching and watch out for part two  where I'll be explaining the McBling aesthetic.