What was the aesthetic of the 2000s? What was the aesthetic of the 2010s?

[TrenterPercenter]

I'm refering to it's derisory tone and managing to get so much wrong

It's a comedy rant fuckwit.

[Mister Six]

Generic, 2007 pop song, autotuned so all the voices sound weird

Fucking hell, I can't get that out of my head now.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Not an aesthetic exactly but the 2000s included the launch of YouTube, the rise of social media, and the proliferation of mobile phones. I remember other Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans remarking on how weird it was that none of this group of young people seemed to have a mobile phone in the later episodes.

I think one of the reasons the aesthetic of the 2010s is so hard to pin down is that streaming platforms began and proliferated from the mid-2000s on while network television went digital and then into decline. Time was there were a few Big Shows that nearly everyone watched and talked about, but there's been less and less of them and I think this is something that's going to continue as people choose between individual streaming services and network television. At least until Disney just buys up all media everywhere and charges everyone $£€100/month to watch anything.

Alternatively, we're all just getting old and our fingers are no longer on the pulse of pop culture and fashion.

[Lemming]

2000s seemed to have a lot of different subcultures going on. Mostly remember chavs (ERE BLUD GIV US YER PHONE), emos, and scene kids who said shit like rawr and had Invader Zim hoodies (you'd see quite a few of these people knocking about in Leeds City Centre). There was also early-ish internet culture - newgrounds, livejournal, 4chan, SomethingAwful etc.

For some reason when I think of the 2000s my brain goes straight to Paper Planes by MIA, which I suppose must have been everywhere for a period.

You could definitely blend enough 2000s aesthetics together and then amplify them to the point of unreality to set a game in the era a la Vice City.

[TrenterPercenter]

Not an aesthetic exactly but the 2000s included the launch of YouTube, the rise of social media, and the proliferation of mobile phones.

Yeah think this is on the money.

[dr beat]

Mid-2000s was the high point of cheap, disposable fashion, eg Primark, Topshop et al, weekend broadsheet supplements putting a Primark top next to an Armani one, that sort of thing.  What this meant is you got trends which would be intensely ubiquitous for 6 months tops then something else.  For example if you're a bloke in summer 2005 chances are you're wearing a stripy polo shirt.  For women in the summer of 2007 the 'TPL' (tunic, pumps, leggings) look was practically a uniform at least from where I was DJing. 

I remember getting the train in Feb 2008 from Durham to go on a night out in Liverpool.  A load of lads got on, either Manchester or Warrington, all dressed identically - white shirts, black skinny ties, red cardigans.  Collectively they resembled the aliens in Vic and Bob's Weekenders.

[Zetetic]

I sometimes wonder whether questions like this have very different answers in Lagos, Brazzaville or Hanoi for example. I vaguely assume in these places it feels a bit less like something stalled in the last couple of decades and never quite restarted properly, but I've no real idea.

[Petey Pate]

Was just looking at upcoming local gigs and this is the image being used to promote a 2010s themed party next month.

Join us as we say our farewells to the decade that came right at us like a Wrecking Ball!

The decade that broke the internet, the years that brought you Netflix and Chill, Snapchat Filters, Instagram and more importantly amazing music!

If you kept up with the Kardashians, fell in love with Stranger Things then come and Shake It Off like 1 of those California Gurls. If you love the 2010s then...Call Me Maybe?

Though not explicit here, I suppose the nostalgia for the period is really just because it was before the pandemic. For many young people, anything seems better than the first two years of the 2020s.

[TrenterPercenter]

Alternatively, we're all just getting old and our fingers are no longer on the pulse of pop culture and fashion.

I'm not against this notion per say; but a lot people do something along the lines off "it's all the same; it is the same as our mum and dads and their dads before them" there is never any proof in this it's just; it must be because......and then we never find out.

There are lots of cycles that go through history and cultural history is no different but things do change.  There are lots of subjective positions to take on this also, culture doesn't just belong to young people for example; life expectancy is slowing for the first time in 50 odd years and overall poor mental health in young people has rocketed in the last two decades; that could be related to something but it is very easily dismissed by just saying "things are just the same" (not saying you are) well they might not be; in fact is very unlikely that is the case.

[Mister Six]

, emos, and scene kids who said shit like rawr and had Invader Zim hoodies (you'd see quite a few of these people knocking about in Leeds City Centre).

Ah, pre-revamp Corn Exchange. The good old days.

There was also early-ish internet culture - newgrounds, livejournal, 4chan, SomethingAwful etc.

Yeah, that was its own weird little thing, wasn't it? Or a group of weird little things. Rotten.com for the pubescent kids to gross one another out. Sparknotes quizzes about how your favourite colour revealed X, Y or Z about your personality. Amateur daily comic strips on BigPanda. Being chuffed at getting a 6.5 rating on Hot or Not.

[TrenterPercenter]

I sometimes wonder whether questions like this have very different answers in Lagos, Brazzaville or Hanoi for example. I vaguely assume in these places it feels a bit less like something stalled in the last couple of decades and never quite restarted properly, but I've no real idea.

Absolutely it is all from your frame of reference isn't it; things may have stalled in the UK but it was probably an incredible time in other developing countries.  Same within nations. 

[dr beat]

One of the high points of the recent series of Ladhood is when Liam Williams' younger self hangs round with the 6th form indie clique.  Thought they got it spot on with the fashions.

[Capt.Midnight]

This Twitter group may interest you.

Y2K Aesthetic Institute
https://twitter.com/y2k_aesthetic?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Seems a lot of Vector based graphic design & early 3D art. All of it tinged with a spacious, future optimism. Lots of shiny, bouncy looking futuristic objects too.

Some other architectural examples here: https://twitter.com/y2k_aesthetic/status/1228093082840621056?s=20

Apparently a lot of 'alternative' Y2K fashion in the West might have been inspired by the Japanese magazine called 'FRUiTS'. https://www.instagram.com/fruits_magazine_archives/ (I don't know whether that's true, however)

Naturally there was a load of other stuff going on at the time (like the bland, GAP style).

There's also the sub-category of 'McBling' https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/McBling.

The Y2K Facebook group had quite a few sub-categories at one point, which I got a bit arsey about and was thus ostracised from the community (evidenced by a series of angry-face emojis.)

[dr beat]

Ah, pre-revamp Corn Exchange. The good old days.

Yeah, that was its own weird little thing, wasn't it? Or a group of weird little things. Rotten.com for the pubescent kids to gross one another out. Sparknotes quizzes about how your favourite colour revealed X, Y or Z about your personality. Amateur daily comic strips on BigPanda. Being chuffed at getting a 6.5 rating on Hot or Not.

And arguing about Nathan Barley with

Spoiler alert

posters we will keep in the past

[close]

And

Spoiler alert

'that voice'

[close]

;)

[A Hat Like That]

Not an aesthetic exactly but the 2000s included the launch of YouTube, the rise of social media, and the proliferation of mobile phones. I remember other Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans remarking on how weird it was that none of this group of young people seemed to have a mobile phone in the later episodes.

It's slightly more specific than that, I think, and the big changes all happen quite close together.
YouTube is late 2005.
Facebook is autumn 2005 (and then only for a select set of university email addresses)
Mobile phones saw an advance a bit earlier, but the first iPhone is late 2007/early 2008 for the UK.

Not sure what this means, so ... err.

Thought they got it spot on with the fashions.

Fedoras. Everywhere.

[paruses]

Hot metal, burnt paper and plastic, burnt fuel, ozone, concrete dust.

These are a few of my favourite things...

[Paul Calf]

Was there an overriding aesthetic, though, like the orange-and-brown hues of the 70s, and the greys and pastels of the 1980s?

Silver electronic consumer goods with rounded edges that didn't work very well.

I'm refering to it's derisory tone and managing to get so much wrong

Heh. Muphry's Law.

[Dr Rock]

2000s - silver cars

2010s - white cars

[Johnny Foreigner]

Hotmail, AltaVista and The Rockall Times.

[checkoutgirl]

Facebook

Does that really count if it's still here? Shoulder pads are of the eighties because they're gone now. I think MySpace, Bebo and Friends Reunited are more of the era.

[JaDanketies]

00s:

[Pink Gregory]

Fucking hell, I can't get that out of my head now.

David Hasselhoff's Floor Burgers

[dissolute ocelot]

I think there's definitely been a change in how fashion works in the last 20 years. There was the rise of fast fashion, with trends lasting a few weeks rather than a decade. But a greater tendency for people to just ignore fashion.

That said, the following belong some time in the past 20 years, I'm just not sure exactly where: low rise jeans, skinny jeans, distressed jeans, peasant tops, maxi dresses, man buns, women loose buns, check shirts, tattoo sleeves, crop tops, puffer jackets, animal print, dungarees, faux fur, boots, trousers cut above the ankle, trainer socks, ballet shoes, coloured hair, emo hair, androgyny, big beards, pink coats, camel coats, raincoats...

So far the 2020s seem to be for women: mom jeans, flares, leggings, sports bras, shoes with massive soles. For men: straight-cut/dad jeans, t-shirts, shackets.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

All I want to know is:
Can I start wearing bootcut jeans again?

[Bronzy]

Farrah Abraham.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=z1Dcs0i5PRc

[Tikwid]

This Twitter group may interest you.

Y2K Aesthetic Institute
https://twitter.com/y2k_aesthetic?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Seems a lot of Vector based graphic design & early 3D art. All of it tinged with a spacious, future optimism. Lots of shiny, bouncy looking futuristic objects too.

Some other architectural examples here: https://twitter.com/y2k_aesthetic/status/1228093082840621056?s=20

Apparently a lot of 'alternative' Y2K fashion in the West might have been inspired by the Japanese magazine called 'FRUiTS'. https://www.instagram.com/fruits_magazine_archives/ (I don't know whether that's true, however)

Naturally there was a load of other stuff going on at the time (like the bland, GAP style).

There's also the sub-category of 'McBling' https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/McBling.

The Y2K Facebook group had quite a few sub-categories at one point, which I got a bit arsey about and was thus ostracised from the community (evidenced by a series of angry-face emojis.)

I was just about to bring up the work of the Consumer Aesthetic Research Institute, which I think originally spun off from the Y2K Institute but now catalogues a much wider number of aesthetic trends in commercial media, going back all the way to the 1970s. It's fascinating going through the pages for different aesthetics (most of which they've coined unique names for) and recognising the styles from years gone by, even ones that were never really acknowledged in popular culture but still linger in your memories, a font choice or graphic motif that brings back a completely different era. Here's just a smattering of the 2000s and 2010s specific aesthetics they've catalogued:

• Metalheart - early 2000s tech aesthetic, dark and glossy Matrix-esque 3D renders of robots, glass shards, fibre-optic cables, Gigeresque constructs and other computery forms
• Frutiger Aero - late 2000s tech aesthetic, bright green and blue colours, water droplets, out-of-focus lights, eco-friendly approach
• Corporate Memphis - mid-late 2010s corporate aesthetic that's gotten rare mainstream attention; sepia pastel colours, minimalist graphics, simple human figures with tiny heads (also a hallmark of Global Village Coffeehouse, its 1990s clipart-look predecessor)
• Internet Awesomesauce - lasers, rainbows, explosions, cats, dinosaurs, and other wacky random things that were the hallmarks of late 2000s-early 2010s meme culture

[Glebe]

It's pretty much Coldplay and silly memes.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

The unifying cultural theme of the last two decades is people complaining about there being no unifying theme.

[chveik]

Farrah Abraham.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=z1Dcs0i5PRc

i raise you Viper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsfnuyyjaB0&ab_channel=yenniben

[Brundle-Fly]

I remember a lot of Grade 3-4 shaved heads in the '00's and Ben Sherman shirts but not tucked in with braces like the original tribe sported that look. It really did feel like a skinhead nation for a bit until it all got so beardy.  Bald men shaving their heads completely a'la Mitchell Bros was kicking in too. When William Hague did it, you knew it was considered the norm.

Since lockdown I've noticed this isn't de rigeur so much now and I'm seeing the softer European look for the balding man. Prince William leading the way, perhaps?