Fashion is Getting A Little Noughtie—How To Embrace The Y2K Aesthetic This Summer
Though decades have passed since the turn of the millennium, fashion has come full circle and is once again relishing in the chintzy and lurid sensibility prominent in the first few years of the 21st century. As we speed towards another raucous summer—not quite as bratty as in previous years, but one hedonistic nonetheless—every sign indicates that the defining aesthetic will be one rooted in the 2000s. Indeed, Y2K fashion is back on the agenda.
Instead of bedazzled Motorola Razr flip phones, Isabel Marant Beckett wedge trainers and Gwen Stefani’s debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby to soundtrack our cruises in Regina George-inspired convertibles, we now have prebiotic sodas, reissues of the Balenciaga City bag and the hypnotic melodies of Slayyyter's punk-meets-club record Worst Girl in America.
Despite the passage of time, many things have remained the same since they first debuted in the early 2000s—rhinestone velour will always hold a place in our hearts, micro mini skirts will never date, and lace-trim camisoles will always complement a pair of ultra-low rise denim. Speaking to Amy Bannerman, eBay UK's style director, she explains that Y2K fashion perpetually resonates for how “unapologetically excessive it all was”.
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“From sequins in the daytime to slogan tees and massive sunglasses, these were all strange layering choices that somehow worked—it was glamorous but chaotic!” she adds. “People romanticise that freedom now because fashion has become so polished and algorithmic. It feels almost mythological because it existed in a time when we had more creativity and freedom, before everyone curated themselves online.”
This sense of uninhibited dressing is permeating across all corners of the sartorial landscape, especially in the joy of dressing up discerned across the spring/summer 2026 runways, further cementing the fact that fashion’s getting a little noughtie once more. As for what we can expect this summer, the Y2K revival will run the full gamut, expressing every subculture and micro movement that reared its head the first time around.
“The early 2000s were filled with 'more is more' metallics, tiny tops, trucker hats, velour tracksuits and diamanté everything,” Bannerman notes. “By the late 2000s, things became darker, moodier, grimier and more rock-and-roll. “Think: skinny jeans, oversized leather jackets, American Apparel disco pants, Alexander McQueen skull scarves, heavy eyeliner and huge amounts of layering.”
This, both iterations of the aesthetic will emerge, with Bannerman adding that it’s this “glossy-cum-trashiness to that people are being drawn back to after fashion’s obsession with minimalism and the quiet luxury aesthetic.”
