Y2K Aesthetics Thread

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h00

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Forgot this one :p
 
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minorminer

When I look at these images I am struck with deep longing for a time I don't remember. There's so much hope and positivity in these mementos, but being on the other side fills me with heartbreak. All in all, these are neat images of a time when we believed we would use technology for the best of mankind. Shame. So much shame.
 

Taleisin

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Still a Youth

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Y2K South Korea had some interesting visions of the future


View: https://youtu.be/_rkjUKrSoyU

yea if i remember correctly the millennial aesthetic was apocalyptic. lots of people spreading fear about the end of the world because IT systems needed their clocks synched, so people who didn't know how the tech worked were whipped into a frenzy about society collapsing. same ol' song and dance as covid, ww3, what have you.
(I was too young to experience any of this tho; my knowledge is retrospect.)


edit: also think of the music video for 2Pac's California love, very Mad Max.
 
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I find it so funny that for the last recent years, whenever i go to a party, we always end up dancing on the same Y2K songs. Most of them have this kind of energy that you can't find anymore in today's music. They just aged really well.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3l7fgvrEKM



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6120QOlsfU



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymNFyxvIdaM


The trance and hard trance scene was just something else during the late 90s/early 00s! Songs were either very uplifting or dark and moody (but not to the nihilistic extent like we hear in contemporary pop songs). I don't know exactly what spurred this culture of extremely emotional and cathartic songs (thank you JP-8080 and Access Virus); maybe it was the optimism towards technology starting to advance at a rapid rate and its implications on how it could benefit society, who knows?


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ann13JdyWmc

I like the late 90's Y2K minimalism esque idea.


Man this track captures that late 90s/early 00s feeling perfectly!
 
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Major_Machismo

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When I look at these images I am struck with deep longing for a time I don't remember. There's so much hope and positivity in these mementos, but being on the other side fills me with heartbreak. All in all, these are neat images of a time when we believed we would use technology for the best of mankind. Shame. So much shame.

I'm old enough to have lived through it and can verify it was a special time. The internet and internet access was growing rapidly, but it was new enough (and slow enough) where it was treated as a novelty not a necessity.

I think the best way to put it is the internet was a place you visited, not the place you lived.

From an aesthetic standpoint, I suppose one could make the argument that the Y2K aesthetic exemplifies this through the use of outlandish outfits, metallics, rudimentary 3D animation and cyborg themes. There's a discernable separation between what's real or human and what's not.

I was never keen on "frutiger aero" or it's simulated nature themes. Frankly, I just don't like the aesthetic. I think it's boring and uninspired but I suppose one could interpret the the melding of nature and technology as an allegory to our current day future. But realistically, I think both aesthetics are just artifacts of their time and the technology available.

Something I think is often overlooked when people look back on the Y2K era (and most other previous eras) is that what are considered the "defining looks" were seldom seen in real life. This is especially true of the Y2K era. It was pretty rare to see someone wearing metallic pants, platform sneakers and over-ear headphones. Granted, they were out there... But the reactions they received were not "Whoa! What a fashion forward badass!" They were more like

Tom Delonge Wtf GIF



That said, tropes like spiky gelled bleached hair, middle parts, big pants/little shirt and Asian/tribal inspired button front shirts were very alive among the masses.

I think it's common to look back on a moment in time and recount the most extreme or outlandish styles as those that defined the era. Many modern portrayals of the 1980s would have you believe that everyone was dressed like Cyndi Lauper and Don Johnson but looking at genuine candid photos and video of the era reveals that the reality was far less extreme and normcore has always prevailed.
If anything, I'd say that the Y2K aesthetic, as it applies to fashion, is more alive today than it ever was at the turn of the century.

I'm sensing myself going of on loosely related tangents so I'll cut it off here for now. But yeah, cool times. Cool aesthetic. Glad to see it back. Reveling in the opportunity to wear my Guy Fiery shirts without feeling like Ricky from Trailer Park Boys.
 

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Jumping in to mention Ikebukuro West Gate Park (2000). Started watching it recently and it's really a great show. Aesthetically it's truly a trip back, what with the clothes they wear, their hairdos, the technology they use and the general look of the streets of Tokyo sometime back in 1999. Helps as well it was entirely shot on digital cameras from that time which really dates it.
On the show itself, it feels to me like Japan's answer to Twin Peaks with plenty of mystery, drama, comedy and soap opera goofyness. Highly recommend it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNhvgtjesS8

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