Y2K beauty: Gen Z is reviving the thin obsession of the 2000s.

In the early 2000s, expectations about thinness were damaged. So why is the Y2K aesthetic trending, considering the inclusion of Gen Z champions?

In the early 2000s, I dreamed of being thin. I flipped issues. CosmoGirl And J-14, a flat-bellied nostalgia like the pop stars who have often presented them. I did not like them; In fact, I didn’t think of them: I was the bullied fat kid who wore football shorts and a Gap cap to school and the popular girls flipped on stage and wore jeweled tank tops. But it wasn’t just wardrobe envy. I studied LiveJournal blogs that taught girls like me how to be skinny. I diet. I blame him for hiding my body and keeping me from the life I want. I thought thinness was my ticket to being loved, accepted and wanted by the world around me.

Since then, I’ve learned to appreciate, and even love, my body as it is, thanks to body-positive influencers, healthy relationships, and lots of therapy. So when I saw miniskirts, low-rise jeans, and tube tops coming down the runways for Fall 2022 at Miu Miu, Versace, and Diesel, my brain short-circuited. Desperate to make this seem like a bad dream, I took to social media to do some cute digging. A quick search of “Y2K” on TikTok turns up a predominately ultra-thin white presenter with over seven billion views. It was all over Pinterest, too: In Canada, searches for “Y2K-inspired clothing” and “early 2000s style” were up 20 and 23 times last year alone, respectively. She hates herself and says, “We all learn our lessons the first time, don’t we?” I thought back to that teenage girl in wonder.

“There’s nothing better than the feeling of skin.”

The Y2K aesthetic of the 2000s was completely abandoned—an embrace of the future with a retro past. Pointy Juicy Couture sweatpants, super low-rise jeans and barely-there bandana tops were scattered throughout the issue. Vogue. You only need to look at the red carpet queens of the 2002 MTV VMAs to get the picture: Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

At the time, these trends were a colourful, fun and edgy response to the more conservative style of the last millennium and rode the coattails of ’90s heroine chic, an aesthetic that introduced us to Kate Moss and the “waif” body type. And while that decade at least favored baggier designs, By the 2000s, the figure had thinned dramatically. It was less about fashion and more about celebrating thin bodies. Actually, body it was The fashion.

“The Y2K metaphor is largely established,” says columnist and book author Gianluca Russo. The Power of Plus: In the Fashion Size-Inclusivity Revolution. “But it goes beyond clothing. Models’ bodies have become an asset in nailing Y2K style. The message was clear: This is not for plus-size bodies. In the year In a 2009 interview about her role in the fashion world, Moss affirmed her commitment to the look with the statement, “There’s nothing better than the feeling of skin.”

And it seems many agree with her. In the United States alone, between 1999 and 2009, hospitalizations for eating disorders among women of all ages increased 21 percent. And many of these people are still suffering, as editor Lucy Huber tweeted last year, “If any Gen Z is wondering why every millennial woman has an eating disorder, it’s because it’s the norm in the 2000s.” A teenage girl said, ‘When you think you’re hungry, you’re really thirsty, so just drink water and you’ll be fine.’

But after a toxic 10 years, when women like me learned that our self-esteem is based on our clothing size, the tide slowly started to turn.

Is Gen Z to blame?

In the year (Daywear), they celebrate #yourbeautystandards and #yourcurves. Then a spoken-word video for the multi-tracked Sonia Renee Taylor’s “Body Doesn’t Apologize” went viral, leading to an international movement and a landmark book, both of the same name.

The movement led to Tiktok. When I log into the platform, my algorithm feeds me all these videos. But while I see mostly millennials creating this content, Gen Z — a generation known for fighting for diversity, LGBTQIA2S+ rights and ethical consumerism — plays with Y2K aesthetics. Is body positivity somehow skipping generations? And if so why?

Well, according to Russo, there are a number of factors to consider, including the fashion cycle: naturally we’re in the 2000s because it’s the decade that comes after the 80s and 90s, which has been trending for the past couple of years. of years. We also consider that low-rise jeans are new to Gen-Zers; They were either premature or too young to enjoy the trend for the first time.

And for many, Russo added, it’s about nostalgia—especially during the pandemic, a dark and difficult time that appealed to the boldness and brilliance of the Y2K aesthetic. During that dark time many of us found ourselves dealing with weight gain, something that was completely normal but affected our ability to achieve mainstream fashion.

Not necessarily that Gen Z doesn’t care about size inclusion. Above all, the mid-size movement was born on Tiki Tok, promoting representation for people who wear sizes 10 to 16. Simply put, other things just come first, and that’s a problem.

Self-respect in the digital age

Psychologist Christine M. “It’s hard for young people to learn to see things with an open eye when diet culture and the idea of ​​thinness cover everything.” With the Dove Self-Esteem Project, Von Ranson helped bring to light the struggles Gen-Zers face when it comes to body image and social media. A recent study found that more than half of the girls surveyed said idealized beauty content on social media made them feel bad about themselves. Eating disorders are on the rise again, with the number of anorexia diagnoses among Canadian patients aged nine to 18 increasing by 60 percent from the pre-epidemic. Similar numbers were seen in the United States.

Major brands aren’t helping either, with many engaging in curve-washing – a marketing tactic that uses disparate entities to sell products on social media without giving their consumers enough size options, which seems to have brought more size inclusion. than he has.

Where do we go from here?

Gen-Zers are new to the size-inclusive discussion and the early stages of developing their own body image. “They’re still young adults and teenagers who are pushing different harmful messages about body image,” Rousseau said. We cannot expect them to fight before they really understand what war is. This may be true, but when it comes to getting the message across, Gen Z’s are on top. They decide what goes viral, and this is the tool that does the most work.

The vibe is changing, though, and Gen-Zers (with the help of their older millennials) are proving that it’s possible to take the fun parts of the Y2K aesthetic and leave the bad behind. Plus-size fashion influencers like Tina McLeod, Jessica Torres, Karina Gomez and Jessica Blair are channeling a new and inclusive version of 2000s beauty.

It’s still hard to understand this modern version of the obsession with being thin and when to look, cool and fit to build a case on the body I’ve been given – especially when body standards aren’t met. Not much has changed except the speed at which they change. But maybe this trend, re-emerging in the age of body size acceptance, is giving people like me a chance to reconsider. I haven’t bought into the Miu Miu Micro Mini recently, but low-rise baggy jeans? I can get behind those just by letting a younger version of myself show through.

This article first appeared on Fashion October issue. Find out more here.