Y2K refers to the year 2000, when the Beckhams were widely reported, Justin and Britney were dating, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian were best friends, and Diddy was known as Puff Daddy. I was also an adolescent. Right now, 2000s Y2K fashions are making a comeback. Gen-Zers are swarming thrift stores for 2000s Y2K fashion apparel and accessories, and celebrities like Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa, and Rihanna are also bringing the trend back. I want to show you what we wore as teenagers and how these patterns are being adopted today.
Thanks in part to the Spice Girls, the late 1990s saw a resurgence of 1970s style, complete with boot-cut jeans, platform shoes, and psychedelic designs. (Recall those unsightly Buffalo platform sneakers?) It was all about the new millennium, the future, and technology as the 2000s Y2K fashion drew near. Naturally, this was mirrored in fashion, which persisted until the early 2000s Y2K fashion and included neon colors, metallic textiles, and futuristic and space-inspired patterns. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Paris Hilton were just three of the “influencers” of the era.
We drew inspiration from periodicals and MTV long before the term “influencer” was coined. The celebrities I will talk about set a lot of the trends, but since I was a teenager and we did not have the same resources as the “It-Girls” of the day, I will show how we interpreted the trends from 1998 to 2005. (2000s Y2K fashion is sometimes defined more broadly (from 1995 to 2010), but I will keep it simple for now.) As an additional side note, I am speaking of Europe and my adolescent years; things might have been different in other places. However, since the same media, MTV, Hollywood films, and magazines connected us all.
All things considered, the 2000s Y2K fashion of our day was somewhat edgy and rebellious; we wore low-rise jeans and vibrant colors, frequently distressed or combined with different materials. Our “lifestyle” and the music we enjoyed were also reflected in our wardrobe. Others wore low-rise cargo trousers with boxer shorts they stole from their boyfriends; still others wore low-rise bootcut jeans, which frequently exposed a portion of our G-string (I would like to wipe this trend from fashion history).
On extremely tanned skin (often from self-tanning products), we wore mesh tops, tank tops with thin straps (which we termed “spaghetti tops”), and layered T-shirts with interesting patterns or slogans matched with thin eyebrows, body glitter, and colorful eyeshadow (and even mascara). The films that influenced us were Mean Girls, Coyote Ugly, American Pie, 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, and She’s All That. Paris Hilton was largely responsible for the popularity of Juicy Couture tracksuits, if you could buy them. Microskirts, La Martina polo shirts, and Ed Hardy cap or T-shirts were other fashion crimes.
Mesh shirts, which were typically blue but occasionally black, grey, or even white, were worn over tank tops or the “spaghetti tops” I described above. Of course, we wore them with jeans. The design by Jean Paul Gaultier (shown above), a significant fashion impact at the time, is an example of an iconic design. We wore these brightly printed translucent materials or mesh tops to parties as well as to school. Surprisingly, there was no obvious differentiation between party and school attire.
We adored short- and long-sleeved T-shirts with equally wacky prints, so the prints were not just found on mesh tops. Once more, we just paired them with jeans. (As you can see, jeans had a crucial role.) They frequently have political remarks, slogans, or other amusing writing on them.
The designs were not just on shirts; I also had equally “crazy” skirts and pants. For example, I adored wearing the graffiti pants (image) with my red Diesel sneakers, which resembled some of Gwen Stefani’s looks.
In Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker wore John Galliano’s “newspaper dress” from the Dior Fall/Winter 2000 show, which sparked the trend of shoes with newspaper patterns.
Cutouts were a big feature in addition to the prints. I owned a variety of shirts that featured front or shoulder cutouts. Christina Aguilera’s cutaway dress was the talk of the town at the moment.
We must talk about the crop tops in this context. The majority of shirts were cropped, and the length of the tops varied according to personal taste. Most often, it stopped just above the belly button or covered it. In essence, the shortest version was a bralette. Although the latter was frequently seen in periodicals, on the catwalk, or at award shows, I did not see it very frequently in “real life.” Additionally, I did not feel at ease wearing the short crop tops.
Even in the winter, we wore crop tops with cardigans over them. Fake fur around the collar or on the cuffs was a popular trend, emulating Bella Hadid’s modern take.
Low-rise and denim:
As I have already indicated, denim was arguably the most popular fashion at the time. Almost no ensemble was complete without jeans. We essentially wore bootcut jeans all the time. However, we also wore jeans, jackets, purses, and everything else you can think of, in different shades of blue, washed, and ruined, as well as other colors, like black or white. Fabric with denim designs or imitation denim was another style.
On the red carpet, some celebs even donned denim. Britney Spears and her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake wearing a matching denim “ensemble” is arguably the most famous. Britney describes the ensemble as “tacky” in her recently released autobiography. You judge this look for yourself. It appeared in every publication at the time. When discussing jeans, it is also necessary to bring up another significant trend that I mentioned previously: everything was low-rise, including skirts and pants. Once more, the kind of pants you wore was determined by the music and group you were a part of. I paired my favorite Adidas Superstars, which I regrettably gave away, with low-rise bootcut jeans. Some paired their platform sneakers with bootcut denim. If you belonged to the hip-hop set, you would have worn shoes, male boxer shorts (which you later stole from your lover), and loose-fitting cargo or skater pants from brands like Carhartt, Dickies, or Southpole.
It was all over. We applied silver, gold, or even other colored glitter, like pink, to our cosmetics. Body glitter, or treatments containing glitter particles, were especially well-liked by people with extremely tanned skin. Some people got their “signature” orange skin tone by using self-tanning creams, going to a tanning clinic, or tanning “naturally” in the sun. Luckily, I avoided the orange-toned skin and merely applied the body glitter. There was glitter in our hair, on our nails, and dresses, skirts, and tops. We utilized glitter choker necklaces, glitter hair pins, and glitter butterfly hair clips. Additionally, we had a variety of glitter belts, some very narrow and some quite wide. The rhinestone string belt was one of the most well-liked. Glitter and embellishment on jeans was a style that I adored. This trend was sparked by the attire of Beyoncé’s female band, Destiny’s Child. I even attempted to make my ruined glitter jeans, but I was unable to do it well and had to purchase a pair instead.
I want to call your attention to a particular element in the Destiny’s Child photo: the shoes were quite pointed, as you can see. The distinctively pointed tips of pumps, mules, and boots were worn with bootcut pants, which concealed the majority of the shoe save for the pointed front.
Tiny skirts:
Short skirts, not minis, but microskirts, were in line with the low-rise style. Giselle Bundchen’s 2001 Vogue Fashion Awards ensemble, which included a black microskirt, white button-down shirt, bikini top, and a trendy glitter belt, is considered classic.
These skirts frequently included flares that alluded to the school uniform style. This was both a nod to the film Clueless and its protagonist Cher, as well as a direct influence on Britney’s school uniform style from the music video for “Baby One More Time.” The preppy style was a “sub-trend” of the school uniform fad. Like Tara Reid in American Pie 2, a lot of girls wore jeans and polo shirts from Tommy Hilfiger or Ralph Lauren. The polo shirts were accessorized with Gucci or Louis Vuitton trademark belts (and occasionally pearl earrings), and this was also strongly associated with the “logomania” (see below). Vibrant Colors
We did not hesitate to use vibrant colors, as you may have noticed by now. The majority of us wore bright colors like red, pink, bright yellow, or orange because of Clueless, but even more so because of Legally Blonde. Of course, some of us preferred the Grunge style of the 1990s, which is still in style now. At times, we even ventured to don vibrant sunglasses.
Exoticism:
As I mentioned in my articles about Yves Saint Laurent’s inspiration from Asia and Karl Lagerfeld’s Orientalism, this so-called “Orientalism” has had a significant impact on fashion from the 16th century to the present. This trend made a resurgence, particularly in the 2000s Y21 fashion, when clothing with Indian and Chinese influences was very fashionable. Chinese or Indian-inspired clothing was worn by celebrities on the red carpet, and designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and Roberto Cavalli included these ideas in their collections.
