If you want to sound like a true Internet subculture connoisseur, it’s worth brushing up on the difference between the Y2K and McBling aesthetics. What are the origins of the Y2K aesthetic?

“The Y2K zeitgeist carried over a lot of ideas from ’60s space age aesthetics and ‘70s ultramodernism,” says Evan Collins, founder of the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute. CARI ...