2000s Men’s Fashion: Indie Layers, Sleaze Glam, Metrosexuals

Men’s 2000s fashion is a mash-up, a sum of all that came the decade before. Also, the start of the end of monoculture, this era helped change style forever.

On one hand, you had reality TV and paparazzi culture. On the other hand, pop stars were playing instruments again. 

You also have the first generation of youth who’ll live most of their life with home internet. This meant exposure to different lifestyles and cultures, no matter how small the town they lived in.

This also meant that 2000s men’s fashion was mixed. 

We were on the other side of late ‘90s futurism, so what comes after the future? Pop had triumphed over grunge, so what does this mean for rock? In the nascent Wild West of social media, celebrities and tastemakers bypassed their PR teams, connecting directly to their fans.

I turned 13 in September 2001. It’s interesting to see how the world I grew up in has had such a lasting impact on menswear.

Y2K Men’s Fashion: An Overview

Late ‘90s futurism was a product of ‘60s and ‘70s revivalism remixed with the anticipation of the coming millennium. And it was still a big thing in the year 2000. Frosted tips and silver and gold accents were common at the height of the boy band craze.

Then, post-futurism took hold. What happens after the future has arrived? The end of the world, of course. But since pop overtook grunge by the end of the ‘90s, the resulting aesthetic was more of a fun dystopian chic. This took several forms.

Military jackets, ripped jeans, distressed leather, repurposed accessories, and poppified rock elements were staples on MTV’s Total Request Live. And TRL, a music video countdown show, was the epicenter of youth culture. 

In the same year Britney Spears danced with a snake on the VMAs, she wore a tube sock as a glove for the Super Bowl half-time show. Then, she and Justin Timberlake wore matching denim outfits at the AMAs.

Denim was everywhere. Y2K men’s fashion included ripped denim with tank tops and ties, with blazers, with tuxedo jackets, with anything, really. There were no rules at the end of the world.