Highsnobiety
Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this YouTube video.

Olivia Rodrigo's latest music video is something of a shrine to Y2K fashion. Pairing Roberto Cavalli mini-dresses with fishnet tights, bejeweled "baby girl" tank tops with chunky flip flops, and butterfly hair clips with rimless sunglasses à la Cartier, the 19-year-old star is a walking billboard for Gen-Z's fascination with the aesthetics of the early aughts — an era it's too young to have ever experienced.

The video, directed by Petra Collins, is a testament to the era's current hold on fashion. Without a hint of irony, every single Y2K trend you can think of is crammed into the pastel-toned visual, heavy with Collins's particular brand of Tumblr-era feminism.

While much of the enthusiasm for the early 2000s is fueled by Millennial and even Zillennial nostalgia for skinny scarves and trucker hats, Rodrigo's commitment to the visual cues of the period feels somewhat incongruous: how can someone born in 2003 — barely conscious during the rise of baby tees and chunky boots — authentically dabble in a style so heavily rooted in sentimentalism?

Your Highsnobiety privacy settings have blocked this Instagram post.

It's an incongruity that some of Rodrigo's "controversies" have thrown into sharp relief.

Earlier this summer, Courtney Love called out the teen for undeniable similarities between a promo image for her concert film, Sour Prom, and the cover of Hole's Live Through This.

Largely credited with pioneering the "kinderwhore" look, an aesthetic born in the '90s that carried over into the 2000s (it's also fodder for much of Collins's photography and directorial work), Love succinctly summed up her feelings in a now-deleted Instagram post: "Olivia - you're welcome."

Rodrigo was also accused of plagiarizing Paramore, whose hit song "Misery Business" (released in 2007, when Rodrigo was four) clearly influenced the teen's chart-topping, summer-defining single, "Good 4 U."

We're not trying to gatekeep the early 2000s — clearly, it's an aesthetic that has proven enduring enough to stir something in both Millennials and Gen-Z'ers alike. That being said, the craze for Y2K fashion is sure to reach the depths of the trickle-down effect sooner or later.

As fast fashion giants including SHEIN and H&M churn out marabou-trimmed tank tops and platform sandals, the early aughts revival is on a fast track to banality. We eagerly await a new throwback — what will our Gen-Z ingénues discover next?

We Recommend
  • Olivia Rodrigo's Special Power Is Making Old Clothes Look New
    • Style
  • Diesel's Y2K Vision Has Melted Away
    • Style
  • Y2K's Days Are Numbered: the '70s Are Back
    • Style
  • The Designer Whose Post-Y2K Fashion Ushered In Billie Eilish's Prep Era
    • Style
  • Carhartt, Hip-Hop & Why Fashion Will Always Be Obsessed With Workwear
    • Style
What To Read Next
  • Maha's adidas Sneakers Are Gems (Jade Stones Included)
    • Sneakers
  • Thundercat: Bassist, Singer, Gamer, Fashion Designer (EXCLUSIVE)
    • Style
  • New Balance's 2024 Line-Up Is Hella Stacked!
    • Sneakers
  • Why Are Famous People Obsessed With Cowboycore?
    • Style
  • For Summer, Clarks Is Returning to Its Rave Days
    • Sneakers
  • The Clarks Wallabee Is Getting Wavy
    • Sneakers
    • sponsored
*If you submitted your e-mail address and placed an order, we may use your e-mail address to inform you regularly about similar products without prior explicit consent. You can object to the use of your e-mail address for this purpose at any time without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to the basic tariffs. Each newsletter contains an unsubscribe link. Alternatively, you can object to receiving the newsletter at any time by sending an e-mail to info@highsnobiety.com

Web Accessibility Statement

Titel Media GmbH (Highsnobiety), is committed to facilitating and improving the accessibility and usability of its Website, www.highsnobiety.com. Titel Media GmbH strives to ensure that its Website services and content are accessible to persons with disabilities including users of screen reader technology. To accomplish this, Titel Media GmbH tests, remediates and maintains the Website in-line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which also bring the Website into conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that our efforts to maintain accessibility and usability are ongoing. While we strive to make the Website as accessible as possible some issues can be encountered by different assistive technology as the range of assistive technology is wide and varied.

Contact Us

If, at any time, you have specific questions or concerns about the accessibility of any particular webpage on this Website, please contact us at accessibility@highsnobiety.com, +49 (0)30 235 908 500. If you do encounter an accessibility issue, please be sure to specify the web page and nature of the issue in your email and/or phone call, and we will make all reasonable efforts to make that page or the information contained therein accessible for you.