McBling

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Reason for Warning: This page contains mentions of abuse, sexualization, addiction, pedophilia & objectification.

McBling

When you think about it, Bling Bling Boy from Johnny Test was a real pioneer of this aesthetic.

Other names

Hollywood Trashcore, Y2K (mistakenly), Trashy Y2K, 2000s Trashy

Decade of origin

2000s

Key motifs

2000s celebrities, scandals, tabloids, paparazzi photos, trashy clothing, hangover photos of celebs, mugshots

Key colours

Pink, silver, black, white, gold

Key values

Party like it's 2007; also drugs

Related media

The Simple Life, Bad Girls Club, trashy reality TV shows of the time

Related brands

Juicy Couture, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Playboy, Bebe, Von Dutch, Hot Topic, Chanel, Blingee

McBling is an aesthetic that was popular from roughly 1999 to 2009, overlapping with the Y2K Futurism, UrBling, and Frutiger Aero aesthetics. It was coined through a Facebook page in 2016 made by Evan Collins of the Y2K Aesthetics Institute. It is often loosely referred to as "Y2K fashion", "Trashy Y2K", or simply "Y2K" on social media despite its differences from the actual Y2K Futurism aesthetic, though it did have overlap with Y2K (2K1 being a mixture of the two).

History[]

The first signs of the McBling aesthetic began around the turn of the millennium. It was at this time that the Y2K Futurism aesthetic began to decline and McBling rose following the dot-com bust, 9/11, and the rise of the "spend, spend, spend" mentality of the Bush era. Some of the earliest instances of the McBling aesthetic were Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake's denim at the 2001 VMAs, the music video for Madonna's 2000 song "Music", and the 2001 film Legally Blonde. In 2002, more trends began appearing such as low-rise jeans, chokers, and bootcut jeans. By 2003 McBling was starting to become more prominent with rappers Eve and Cam'ron's white & pink outfits at the Baby Phat show that Fall, Von Dutch trucker hats, and the premiere of Nicole Richie & Paris Hilton's The Simple Life. This transitional period between Y2K Futurism and McBling is sometimes referred to as the 2K1 aesthetic.

The McBling aesthetic went into full swing around late 2004 with the release of the Tina Fey-wrote teen movie Mean Girls, the popularization of Myspace, the popularization of emo via Green Day's American Idiot, the phasing-out of 2K1, the iPod becoming a huge status symbol via Apple's silhouette ad campaign, the premieres of MTV's Laguna Beach and Lost, and Gwen Stefani starting her solo career, further hastening the end of the Y2K era. McBling was concurrent or overlapped with a number of other 2000s aesthetics, such as UrBling, Surf Crush, 2K7, and Frutiger Aero.

The McBling era ended around 2008-09 with the Great Recession, Barack Obama's election, and the backlash against 2000s culture setting in. This led into the Electropop 08/Recession Pop era, which lasted from about 2008 to 2013. On social media in recent years, the McBling aesthetic has grown in popularity, albeit it is often referred to as "Y2K fashion" or "Y2K" despite Y2K originally referring to the futuristic aesthetic predating McBling. The original Y2K is now referred to as Y2K Futurism to differentiate it from McBling and other parts of the Y2K umbrella term. The McBling revival has also been referred to as "Bubblegum Bling".

Visuals[]

Popular visual cues of the era include:

1970s/80s-esque maximalism
The Candice font (recently popular in the 1970s, fittingly enough), seen in media such as Pimp My Ride
Leopard prints (recently popular in the 1980s)
Worship culture of mainstream pop stars
Hollywood royalty who were popular at the time (such as Paris Hilton, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, etc)
Bedazzled flip phones
Flip phones
Trucker hats
Large jeeps
Hummer cars
Range Rovers
Jewelry and "bling"
Websites such as MySpace and Blingee

People often associate this aesthetic with the color pink (usually a bright hot pink) as it was popularized by Paris Hilton during this time.

Controversies[]

A darker side to the McBling aesthetic centers around the myriad of celebrity scandals that went down around the time, including:

Justin Timberlake tore off Janet Jackson's red bra at the Super Bowl halftime show
Britney Spears' meltdown (shaved her head, destroyed the car) in 2007
Former child star Lindsay Lohan going to jail and rehab multiple times for a variety of reasons, beginning during production of Georgia Rule in 2006
Leaked celebrity sex tapes (most famously, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, and Kim Kardashian)
Disney star Ashley Tisdale's disarranged red carpet fashion
Overexaggerated tabloid headers
Amanda Bynes' unflattering paparazzi photos
Amanda Bynes' messy tweets
J. Lo divorced from Affleck
Brad Pitt leaving Jennifer Aniston for then-rising-sexpot Angelina Jolie in 2005
Anna Nicole Smith marrying the oldest Howard Marshall II when she was 26, and he was 89
Anna Nicole Smith's constant struggle with drug addiction
UK songstress Amy Winehouse's struggle with alcoholism, drug addiction, and dealing with court cases where she faced assault charges (from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s)
Amy Winehouse's infamous song "Rehab" where she openly refuses to go to rehab for her addictions. Four years later, this ultimately lead to her death in 2011 at the age of 27

Fashion[]

Fashion trends during the McBling era include:

Velour tracksuit sets
Low-rise jeans
Large designer handbags
Oversized sunglasses
Animal prints (such as zebra)
Miniskirts (the shorter, the better)
Yoga pants (specifically versus Pink)
Stilettos (mainly open-toed or stripper-styled)
Ultra-short denim shorts
Halter tops
Slogan T-shirts (I ❤️ Shirts are a great example)
Platform flip-flops
Bold jewelry
Pink camouflage prints
Uggs
Anything Bratz dolls have worn in the 2000s

The fashion mainly contains disarranged and controversial outfits worn by celebrities during the 2000s, low-rise jeans, Juicy Couture tracksuits, ripped clothes, etc. Popular fashion brands involved in the McBling aesthetic include:

Juicy Couture
Playboy
Murakami
Louis Vuitton
Von Dutch
Victoria's Secret/Pink
Hollister
Ed Hardy
Baby Phat
Phat Farm
Rocawear
Abercrombie and Fitch
Sean John
Blumarine
Banks Couture
Dior

Media[]

Movies[]

My Scene Goes Hollywood (2005)
Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale (2010)
The Barbie Diaries (2006)
Bratz (2007)
White Chicks (2004)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
High School Musical (2006)
Jennifer's Body (2009)
The Hot Chick (2002)
Legally Blonde (2001)
The Cheetah Girls (2003)
Mean Girls (2004)
The Clique (2008)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
The House Bunny (2008)
Wild Child (2008)
Young Adult (2011)

Television[]

Sex and the City (TV Show) (HBO; 1998-2004)
Two and a Half Men (CBS; 2003-2015)
The Simple Life (Fox; 2003-2007)
My Scene (webisode series; 2002-2007)
Jersey Shore (MTV; 2009-2012)
The L Word (Showtime; 2004-2009)
G2G: Got to Go! (CBC, 2008-2009)
The Girls Next Door (E!; 2005-2010)
The Hills (MTV; 2006-2010)
Gossip Girl (CW; 2007-2012)
The City (MTV; 2008-2010)
Atomic Betty (Cartoon Network (Canadian); 2004-2008)
H2O (Network Ten, 2006-2010)
Kilari/Kirarin Revolution (TV Tokyo, 2006-2009)
The Anna Nicole Show (2002)
Bratz (4Kids; 2005-2008)
Bad Girls Club (Oxygen; 2006-2017)

Video Games[]

Barbiegirls.com (virtual world)
Roiworld (which is formerly found on AZDressup)
Two and a Half Men (video game)
Friday Night Funkin'
Style Savvy (Nintendo DS)

Music[]

Britney Spears
Beyoncé
Paris Hilton
Christina Aguilera
Ayesha Erotica
That Kid
Rina Sawayama (Japan)
Busted (UK)
Cherish - Chemical X (2003), an example of the transition between both Y2K/2K1 and McBling styles
Hilary Duff

Subgenres[]

Bubblegum Bling[]

Bubblegum Bling is McBling's revival aesthetic, often mistagged as "Y2K" on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where it is quite popular.

This aesthetic emerged in the late 2010s, possibly as part of the Neo-Y2K movement, and has a heavy Hyperpop influence.

Like McBling before it, Bubblegum Bling has a focus around luxury and femininity, though it eschews the "party culture" aspects in favor of something that is sleeker and more subdued but keeps that stylish, kitschy feel.

References[]

https://cari.institute/aesthetics/bubblegum-bling

Bro Hoe[]

Bro Hoe is a more sexualized version of the Tomboy aesthetic, described as "McBling but with more edgy & masculine elements". Bro Hoes are usually defined as girls who hang around guys who dirtbike or are tattoo artists. Because of the edgy element to Bro Hoe, there is some crossover with the Scene aesthetic as well, although Bro Hoe doesn't go as over-the-top and alt as Scene does.

This style has had a slight revival in recent years due to the 2000s boom online, but the new influencers of it aim to make more available to everyone.

Fashion[]

Bro Hoe fashion revolves around graphic tees, often from brands such as Ed Hardy, Metal Mulisha, Konflict, Famous, and Affliction, as well as accessories such as bandanas, baseball caps, tattoos and piercings. Clothing with the Monster logo or the "Trucker girl" on it are also popular amongst the Bro Hoes.