By:ALFREDO MENDOZA
Staff Writer
Whitewashing has been around for as long as racist ideals have been. While in recent history it simmered down it still remains a huge and frustrating issue. A long time ago whitewashing was a serious and more horrific topic. From 1819-1969 our very own government stole native children and forced them into boarding schools. They did this to strip them from their heritage and turned to abuse to erase any connection to their culture. The white supremacists in America wanted this nation to be pure of any culture that wasn’t seen as fit. This has overall become less of a grave issue and transformed into small microaggressions within media and trends. One very prominent example would be how the white media diluted the meaning of the infamous and recent Y2K style.
For some background the original meaning of Y2K is ¨the switch from the two-digit year ’99 to ’00 would wreak havoc on computer systems ranging from airline reservations to financial databases to government systems¨. It was basically the belief that the world would be put into technological warfare and all that we love would be destroyed. Obviously, this didn’t happen but you’re probably wondering. How did we find fashion and aesthetics in a conspiracy theory? Well, the keyword in ¨technological warfare¨ is tech. Believe it or not, the aesthetic isn’t the whitewashed ¨mean girls¨ ¨ rhinestones ¨ ¨ tracksuits¨ and ¨Playboy logos¨. That in itself is an entirely different aesthetic called the McBling Aesthetic that has been confused and manipulated in white media. The Y2K aesthetic is street style meets cyber meets punk and it was all brought into perspective by… you guessed it! the strong black women in the media. From 1998 to 2003 this aesthetic was known as the ¨Kaybug¨ which had a strong focus on tech optimism. In 2020 we experienced a surge of trends coming and going every other week. Professionals believe it had to do with the boredom people faced during lockdown that led trends to last a couple weeks rather than the usual 3-5 year-long period. This quarantine caused a ruckus in the trend cycle and thankfully it’s slowing down and allowing us to go back to the normal 20-year rule.
This specific aesthetic was rooted in black and brown culture having to do with oversized clothes which started from impoverished POC having to style hand-me-downs. Chunky statement jewelry comes from the banjee culture embedded in POC hoods. Silver shiny clothes rooted in Hip Hop culture that was founded by black people and so on. Many people hear Y2K and generalize all the trends into a whole other aesthetic. This overall dissolves the true meaning and culture of what makes up Y2K. A big issue that helped whitewash and dilutes the famous aesthetic was the apps we know as TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, and much more. Around the peak of that aesthetic trend, I couldn’t go on any social media site without seeing a watered-down interpretation of what Y2K is. More often than not it was ignorant mislabelling of fashion but it happened so often that there was no way for it to become overdone.
If you decide to take on the Y2K aesthetic or McBling or whatever, you totally can. I’m not saying that the wrong use of these styles is cultural appropriation. Simply put it’s just frustrating how people flock to trends without seeing the roots or educating themselves on how to execute them correctly. Yes, fashion has no rules as it is a form of self-expression and art but if you’re going to title a cardigan and mini skirt Y2K you’re inherently wrong. Even then we should still keep in mind that most of our trends come from women of color and queer people of color. Yet it is the straight white media that steal our own sense of self and sells it to the mainstream. If you’re just supporting the same white, heteronormative, privileged designers, creators, and influencers then you are just as a part of the problem as anyone. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the iconic nameplate necklace that also came back in recent years. Originally POC used these nameplate necklaces because of how hard it was for their white counterparts to pronounce their names. So you see black and brown people were using these necklaces originally and it only flourished among those specific communities. It wasn’t until the hit show Sex in the City’s costumer ¨Patricia Field¨ featured an ingenue, ¨Carrie Bradshaw¨ displaying a nameplate necklace. Since this was before social media people looked to TV for style inspiration and this absolutely sent people into a flurry. Not long after the first episode aired companies were manufacturing these necklaces left and right and the consumers couldn’t get enough. Everyone had to have one! But where did that leave the communities that originally found the necklace? There was absolutely no credit given and the necklaces lost their specialty and culture.
In conclusion, it’s very important to know the roots of the clothing you wear and what culture is embedded into it. What is more important than our identity? That’s why it’s important to know about the reality of how we dress and the pieces we choose to use to express ourselves daily.
Fashion is more important than you think.