#nostalgia cycles happen in 20-50-70-100yr cycles. so now that we're in the 2020s we're seeing stuff come back from the 00s/70s/50s/20s

[sanstropfremir]

So what is actually y2k? Because when I look it up it gives me the y2k problem when people thought the computers were going to crash. Which made me go huh then what is the y2k aesthetic? And if possible could you give examples of groups that are doing it whether it's their own spin on it or the more traditional ish way? I delved into the y2k rabbit hole and I'm realizing it's more than low rise jeans and tank tops so I'm shook 😳

please know that i've never felt older than i have in this moment reading this for the first time slfjskkflslfjfjnfnesmmsk.

so the 'y2k aesthetic' had been a term that's evolved out of the nostalgic cycle return of fashion from the late 90s to the mid-ish 2000s. 'y2k' as a term itself means 'year two thousand' (k is shorthand for thousand) and the original y2k does indeed refer to the incoming computer crash that was thankfully avoided in 1999, but in later years has come to be used as a delineating adjective for anything surrounding that specific era.

as far as fashion goes, it's hard to give a precise definition of what was the actual 'typical y2k' fashion because there was pretty wide range of changes and a couple of different subcultures that were prominent influences. most famously and distinctively is probably scene, which is the direct ancestor of eboy/girl fashion, but also there was surfer chic (pukka shell necklaces, tribal tattoos, bleached tips, wearing board shorts to non-swim related functions), skate punk, an obsession with oversized denim and oversized clothing in general, whatever you wanna call the lisa frank aesthetic, and whatever you wanna call whatever was going on with ed hardy, like blingy tattoo chic? i dunno, i don't think anyone can explain that one. this was also the start of the heyday of the branded sportwear trend, popularized by black hiphop and rnb artists starting in the early 90s and continuing up until now, basically. the other thing that i need to stress, as someone who lived through this, is that a lot of it was UGLY. the 'y2k aesthetic' of now has taken the best and most flattering bits of it an combined them with contemporary trends to make everything look good to modern eyes, but the reality of wearing clothes in the 2000s was that shit was just ugly. there were such a messy conglomerate of trends, plus an 'ideal' body type of heroin chic (yes that was actually what it was called) meant that popular styles like lowrise jeans were miserable for anyone who was vaguely normal shaped. also extra long spaghetti strap tank tops are flattering on nobody. it was a profoundly unflattering era for everyone, and it's important to remember that no current version of it truly captures how bad it was, because if it did, it would not have been revived by all these tiktokers obsessed with 'aestheticizing' everything.

the most obvious examples in kpop are sunmi's you can't sit with us, which is quite literally a mean girls (2004) reference, but also is referential to the popularity of zombie media at the time (shawn of the dead also came out in 2004, the walking dead started airing in 2010). the highly maximalist 'bedroom' set has a bunch of 2000s tech (including the coloured imac g3, which is the computer i learned how to type on) in it and is very much on trend with how girls' bedrooms looked at the time.

another example is jeon somi's dumb dumb, which hilariously came out at the same time, and ALSO has a mean girls reference, although this one plays more on high school media tropes than specific y2k trends, but bc i was in school in that era that tends to be an unconcious association.

yena's smartphone also uses a lot of y2k visuals in the styling, in particular the heavy hair accessories, but it combines them with a modern slant.

of course there's also all of newjeans content, which is very explicitly based in a medley of teen y2k aesthetics, but their most true to life styling is probably the one from their fact music awards performance, which pretty authentically hows how much of a mess the era actually was:

aespa also uses a lot of y2k ideas in their mvs; life's too short features the same bubblegum pink teen girl bedroom idea that shows up in both sunmi and somi's mvs, very obviously is their remake of dreams come true, which is literally an s.e.s song from 1998. but also i'm going to argue that girls has the same energy as early tvxq mvs with the high contrast dramatic colour grading and incredible weird pseudo scene fashion.

for the guys there's less obvious examples, because men's fashion doesn't have as frequent trend indicators, and because pretty much ALL bg fashion is in some way traces back to y2k trends in the first place.

the clearest example is probably enhypen's blessed cursed, which quite literally references y2k (the event) IN the mv, and keeps relatively closely to the popular silhouettes of the time: oversized pants, sportswear, large jewelry, those round sunglasses. and also it uses fisheye lens shots, which were SUPER common in mvs at the time

there's also the original kpop it boy kangta's mcountdown eyes on you stage, which is so unbelieveably late 90s that if you put the video down to 240p i would have thought it was FROM 1999. stylist whoever made this choice do you want to make out:

it's shown up in some other places as well, including the recent sungkyu photoshoot with the very oversized denim:

and also in the recent promo photos from sm winter palace, which seems to be taking a messy vaguely winter themed stab at styling that i am thoroughly enjoying: