The Y2K aesthetic: who knew the look of the year 2000 would endure?

From fashion and architecture to music and art, the optimism and techno-utopianism of the early 2000s found its way into every element of design

In the year 2000, a shiny new millennium spread out before us, glittering with the promises of modern technology.

The angsty 1990s were behind us, the dotcom bubble was swelling and yet to come was the market bust and "war on terror". Y2K - the supposed turn-of-the-century bug that would bring our infrastructure to a terrifying halt - had failed to materialise and for a brief moment there was nothing but glittering utopian futurism and faith in a new age of boundless possibility.