Personally I'm really excited for the Y2K revival, it's been a subculture of fashion and music I've been involved in for a while, but it is kinda weird to see it gain so much traction so suddenly. It definitely has positives and negatives.
I found this forum through the Y2K section of the Aesthetics Wiki, and it probably wouldn't be on that website if the Y2K revival wasn't happening. Before getting here I had waded through a lot of communities revolving around Y2K music and aesthetics, but the userbase was either really, really young, or not really interested in talking about retro stuff, and just using the Y2K aesthetic to promote their community. Which is fine, it's just not for me, and it's not something I've run into before. Before the Y2K revival if I wanted to talk to someone about Y2K stuff I had to find their blog, then message them personally, and we'd hang out for a bit. Maybe they'd have a group chat or a small community to chill in, but it'd eventually become inactive and stay that way for years, so it was hard to find stable community.
Very quickly things that used to be pretty inconsequential to collect or purchase online are getting upcharged, saw a Serial Experiments Lain lunch box going for $350 on ebay but two years ago it was about $30 and that was even high for the time. A lot of clothes that used to be considered ugly and as a result were cheap are now going for sale on sites like ebay or depop for a pretty notable markup. Which, is strange to see happen. I'm glad people are able to make money off of hobbies like collecting or thrifting now, but from a consumer standpoint it's sometimes more difficult to purchase stuff online now. There's also a lot of reproduction items in places and that bogs down search results. It's now possible to buy stuff with this vibe in department stores, which makes it a lot more accessible, and I appreciate that. There's a lot of people making their own clothing suddenly and accessibly in the Y2K aesthetic now, or with callbacks to the Y2K aesthetic, which is crazy exciting.
There's a lot more music out now with Y2K vibes, which is great, but a lot of people will just tag their shit with Y2K to get it more views, which isn't great.
It's ultimately just a really mixed bag for me as far as my opinion of this goes. I am happy to see people having fun with stuff I like though. I think trends cycle in and out a lot, but I'm not sure if the Y2K aesthetic is going to die any time soon, and I'm interested to see what changes over the next years. It'd be nice to see it start to influence real life. Please put fun architecture and decor in buildings again
2010s aesthetic revival will really be sumthin.
