Thread: The differences between Y2K era/aesthetic, McBling era/aesthetic and Barbiecore era/aesthetic!!

I decided to make this thread because I’ve been seeing people arguing on twitter who started what and creating Instagram accounts based on these aesthetics but don’t depict it accurately.

The Y2K era is what jumpstarted the McBling aesthetic after it died down around 2003. It started in the 1990s by Evan Collins who created the Y2K Aesthetics Institute. The Designer’s Republic also contributed to Y2K aesthetic.

“According to the Y2K Institute, some of Y2K's aspects include, tight leather pants, silver eye-shadow, shiny clothing, Oakleys, gradients, and Blobitecture.” - Aesthetics Wiki. The Y2K aesthetic is like a mixture of technology and futuristic designs and fashion.

When you think of Y2K you can see it in Michael and Janet’s “Scream” music video, TLC’s “No Scrubs” music video, the Spice Girls “Say you’ll be there” music video and movie ‘Hackers’. The Y2K era gradually died down in 2001 and ended in 2003 and that’s when Mcbling started.

Mcbling aesthetic , also known as Hollywood Trashcore, became roughly popular in 2003 to 2008 after the Y2K era ended. When you think of the McBling you’d think of the worship of pop stars such as Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Paris Hilton, bedazzled flip phones,-

jewelry “the bling bling” and large Jeeps. People tend to mix this era up with both Y2K and Barbiecore. They label this era as Y2K and dress like the Barbiecore era when it isn’t either of those. Colors that were heavily prominent during this era is pink, black, silver, white-

and gold. The fashion during this time was Expensive Juicy Couture, Brandy Melville, Playboy, Louis Vuitton and Von Dutch.

Barbiecore started in the late 90s to the early 2000s. The creators are unknown but you can see a lot of it in movies such as ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Legally Blind’. This era involves lots of pink and a sassy attitude.

You will find lots of pink and purple clothing, animal print in different shades, clear/holographic accessories, wearing heavy shiny makeup. You can also find this aesthetic in shows/movies like ‘Hannah Montana’, ‘Lizzie McGuire’, ‘The Cheetah Girls’, and ‘Clueless’.

When dressing up Barbiecore aesthetic you’ll wear plastic hair clips, baby tees or crop tops, Marabou feathers, low rise jeans, belly-chains, mini skirts, tiny purses or shoulder bags, clothes in colors such as Lavender, Hot/Pastel pink, holographic and purple.

Hope this helped :) !!!