Y2K is an Internet aesthetic based around products, styles, and fashion of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The name Y2K is derived from an abbreviation coined by programmer David Eddy for the year 2000 and its potential computer errors. The Y2K aesthetic can include synthetic or metallic materials, inflatable furniture, and computer interfaces of the dotcom era. Y2K may also borrow elements of the McBling aesthetic, [1] [2] with which it is sometimes conflated. [3]
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Originally, Y2K as an internet aesthetic retrospectively referred to a retrofuturistic art movement, characterized by metallic materials, blobjects and reflective clothing. [1] As the term "Y2K" garnered mainstream attention over the course of the 2020s, this term has since expanded to refer to 2000s fashion in general; [4] the former definition of Y2K is sometimes known as Cybercore to differentiate itself from the latter. [5]