end of the world redux
y2k turns 25
It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. I’m wearing a new shirt from the GAP, pale blue, long-sleeved, with a huge glittery snowflake on the front—the futile Christmas wish of a Floridian child. My friend is wearing the same shirt in pastel pink. Her parents are hosting a party outside their house on the next block over. All the trees on her street are covered in white Christmas lights, and we sit amongst the twinkling on a sturdy branch, watching all the adults down below.
Less than a year later, in the wake of the 2000 election, vandals would replace the Gore/Lieberman signs in the yards of my neighbors with Sore/Loserman parodies as we waited for the Supreme Court recount decision. Less than a year after that, September 11th would fully shatter any sense of a divide between world and childhood. Compared to today’s baseline, the worries of 1999 feel almost quaint.1 But the Y2K panic was my first memorable experience of collective societal unease. On December 31, 1999, among the twinkling bulbs—I felt it there first.
I wore that GAP t-shirt almost as a talisman that night. I was nine years old—nothing I did would have any bearing on how the world fared when the clock struck midnight, whether or not traffic lights would go out, banking systems would collapse, planes would fall out of the sky.2 What I did have control over, however, was what I wore. My friend and I, clad in the shirts we’d picked out together—we would be okay.
Two of my first Rabbit Fur Coat posts were on dressing for New Year’s Eve (I believe I called it “the Halloween of December”), and I’m going to continue that tradition this year with this compilation of the most ridiculous, corny, dated, flashy clothes from 1999—including a couple of repeats from last year’s posts, because that sequined halter top somehow still hasn’t sold. These garments are a good reminder of the impermanence of time, of how even something very big and overwhelming can feel small again with enough distance. To wear a t-shirt manufactured specifically to commemorate the start of the new millennium is to slip into the problems of yesteryear, to remember with a knowing smile that we made it through, that whatever we were worried about turned out not to be a big deal after all (not for nothing, but due to the quiet and dogged efforts of some very smart people working together on a tight deadline.)3
In another twenty-five years, the world will also look markedly different than it does in this moment—likely in a bad way, unless some drastic changes are made. (Sorry, I didn’t invent global warming, don’t shoot the messenger!) So wear the silly themed shirt! We’re still alive, and we’ve made it through another year! Maybe I’m wrong about climate collapse, and maybe we’ll be looking back with gratitude for yet another group of intelligent and committed people who rallied around this current problem that seems utterly insurmountable right now. Either way, it feels important to spend at least some of this precious time in whatever way brings you joy. And something that brings me joy is this act of virtual archaeology, the ability to dig up something as unbelievably useless, dated, and charming as a baseball cap with a battery-powered LCD display counting down to a moment we thought the world might fall apart.
Also, I need someone to order at least one of these items, wear it on New Year’s Eve, and send me a photo. Please!
As for styling, I’ve got you—here are several outfits planned around some of my favorite items from above.
Where did you spend New Year’s Eve 1999? Are there any memorable New Year’s Eve outfits in your past? What will you wear this year?
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Earlier this year, a faulty update from Crowdstrike (a widely used cybersecurity software company) caused widespread disruptions similar to what people feared would happen at midnight on January 1, 2000. Though it had serious consequences in the moment for some (911 services were down for hours in some cities), news coverage faded after a couple days, and focused mainly on the airlines that continued to struggle with rebooking canceled flights.
https://fortune.com/2024/07/19/crowdstrike-microsoft-outage-y2k/
https://slate.com/technology/2024/07/tech-meltdown-glitch-crowdstrike-y2k.html
https://torch.cci.fsu.edu/~kht19/cgs2821/project11/
https://time.com/5752129/y2k-bug-history/
Fantastic article, Eleanor! 💕✨
I was 32 on New Year’s Eve 1999, and my husband and I went to a theme party: your favourite person in history. I was Mae West! I wore a blonde wig, a giant pancake hat (I still have it), and a long slinky black velour dress covered in giant poppies, with long black gloves.💕
I worked for a property management company and we were all very worried about the building security!
I love the clothes you found- I remember a lot of novelty glasses but not Y2K clothes.
I remember NYE 1999 so clearly! I was 15, and my friend and I had planned to go to a neighbourhood cinema and watch a midnight movie together, but at the last min, my friend wasn't feeling well and decided not to go. I felt a little lonely and FOMO staying home, so I decided to go anyway - I wore my favourite cargo pants, and and orange baby tee I borrowed from my older sister, and went to watch "Run Lola Run". I think that experience firmly embedded in my mind that I can enjoy myself doing things alone!