Aesthetics Wiki
Advertisement
Aesthetics Wiki
Aesthetics Wiki
1,036
pages
in: Fashion, Visual, Feminine,
and 10 more

McBling

Sign in to edit
Sensitive Content Notice ⚠️
The following article contains and discusses content that may be distressing to some readers.
Reason for Warning: This page contains mentions of abuse, sexualization, addiction, pedophilia & objectification.

McBling is an aesthetic that was popular from roughly 2003 to 2008,[1] 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.

By 2004 McBling was well-established with the release of 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 Four Colors ad campaign, the premieres of MTV's Laguna Beach, and Gwen Stefani starting her solo career. McBling was concurrent or overlapped with a number of other 2000s aesthetics, such as UrBling, Surf Crush, 2K7, and Frutiger Aero. After 2005, McBling began merging with Emo/Scene styles into Bro Hoe. This featured more gold instead of silver, jeans getting skinnier, darker colors, Uggs, sites like Myspace and Blingee, etc.

The McBling era started to end around 2008-2009 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 (fittingly popular in the 1970s), seen in media such as Pimp My Ride
  • Leopard prints (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"/sparkles
  • 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
  • Versace
  • Fila
  • L.A.M.B
  • Balenciaga
  • Fendi

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)
  • The O.C. (Fox; 2003-2007)
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS; 2003-2015)
  • The Simple Life (Fox/E!; 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)
  • Winx Club (Nickelodeon, RAI; 2004-2019)
  • Bad Girls Club (Oxygen; 2006-2017)
  • Hogan Knows Best (VH1 ;2005-2007)

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)
  • Imagine Fashion Franchise (Nintendo)

Music[]

Artists[]

Songs[]

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. It is closely related to Bimbocore and to a lesser extent, Bubblegum Bitch.

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[]

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.

Media[]

TV Shows[]
  • Rock of Love (2007)
  • Daisy of Love (2009)
  • Jersey Shore (2009)
Music[]
  • 3OH!3
  • Insane Clown Posse
  • Jason Derulo
  • Ke$ha
  • Kingspade
  • Kottonmouth Kings
  • Lil' Jon
  • Ludacris
  • Pitbull
  • Primer 55
  • Usher
Vendors[]
  • John Deere
  • Ed Hardy
  • Metal Mulisha
  • Konflict
  • Famous Stars and Straps
  • Fox Racing
  • Affliction
  • SRH
  • Playboy
  • DC
  • Juicy Couture
  • Dickies
  • Monster Energy
Playlists[]

Gallery[]

Resources[]

External links to help get a better understanding of this aesthetic.

Vendors[]

Pinterest Boards[]

Playlists[]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ↑ https://cari.institute/aesthetics/mcbling

Navigation[]

Y2K Aesthetics

2K1 • 2K5 • 2K7 • 90s Cool • 90s Extreme • Bubblegum Dance • Cheiron Crush • Chromecore • City Crush • Cyber Grunge • Cyber Stylin' • Dark Y2K • Electropop 08 • FantasY2K • Four Colors • Gen X Soft Club • Home 2K • Low Poly • Mall 2K • McBling • Metalheart • Minivan Rock • MTV 2 Overcast • MTV Green Sky • Shibuya Punk • Shiny Suit 97 • Surf Crush • Teenpunk • The WB Crush • Total Afternoon Live • Trashy Raver • UrBling • Vectorheart • Webcore • Y2K Attitude • Y2K Futurism

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement