Carly Aquilino/TikTok
- Carly Aquilino has gone viral on TikTok after exploring the embarrassing side of "Y2K fashion."
- 30-year-old Aquilino's three TikToks on the subject have amassed over 8 million views combined.
- As well as being a stand-up comedian, Aquilno is a regular cast member of MTV comedy "Girl Code."
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Carly Aquilino, 30, recently gone viral on TikTok after her videos dissecting early noughties "Y2K" fashion went viral. Under the handle @fashiongirl42069, where she has over 267,000 followers, Aquilino has made three videos on the subject, which have amassed a combined total of 8.6 million views.
"Y2K fashion," which is the subject of some of Aquilino's most popular videos, refers to early noughties style – "Y2K" is shorthand for "the year 2000."
In her first TikTok on the subject, which was posted on July 13, Aquilino pointed out that some trends from the era like crop tops and low-rise jeans are fashionable again, especially among Gen-Zers, who were born between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s.
But she said there is "some cherry picking going on" in terms of which trends are back in style. Revealing an image of Ashley Tisdale at a red carpet event, Aquilino added: "When I think about Y2K, I don't think crop tops and halter tops and low-rise jeans only. I think about – I think about how we really wore every accessory at the same time. I think about how we wore jeans underneath skirts and dresses."
Struggling to keep a straight face, she also pointed to fashion staples of the time like "comically large belts" and fedora hats, as she showed images of looks like Christina Aguilera's baby pink fedora. "We actually went out of the house like that," she said, stifling a laugh.
Aquilino's videos mocking the resurgence of Y2K fashion follow an online feud between Gen-Z and millennials which blew up earlier this year as Gen-Z reportedly "canceled" millennial classics like Eminem, side parts, skinny jeans, and cry-laugh emojis.
A former hairdresser, Aquilino now has over 400,000 Instagram followers through her work as a stand-up comedian and regular cast member of MTV comedy series "Girl Code." In the past, she has also hosted the comedy show "Girl Code Live."
Aquilino followed up her first video with a second one on July 14, where she further dissected the role belts played in Noughties fashion. Returning to the large, wide circular belts she mentioned in the first video, she joked that these belts were "the backbone to our society."
"I don't know if you guys remember, this belt was president of the United States," she said. After multiple requests, Aquilino later posted a TikTok on July 17 focussing on men's fashion in the Y2K era, which included accessories like "hats and visors which went every way but the right way."
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