5 independent Italian magazines that made history (and fashion) in the 2000s A journey through the pages where Y2K culture comes to life

In a matter of months, the 2000s trend has exploded into our lives. From the catwalks to our bedrooms, via exhibition spaces and social message boards, in 2021 there is no cultural sphere that doesn't refer to the years of the very low life and posters of Britney Spears - or Fabri Fibra, depending on taste. Between Instagram reels and Tik Tok, for the latest Millennials and Gen Z kids it wasn't difficult to discover that world of musical hits, oldmoney micro-skirts and teen TV dramas – that made celebrities like Avril Lavigne, Paris Hilton and Megan Fox icons. The Internet made it easy, but it wasn't always like that: since the beginning, it was the independent magazines of the time that played the role of cultural engine. It all began between the pages of The Face (soon followed by the likes of Arena, i-D and Dazed & Confused) and on the streets of London, where the Y2K wave took on a peculiar direction. 

The first «style bible» deserves the credit for having been able to tell and amplify the trends of the time, becoming a real guide for underground music and British fashion. In the meantime, in Italy rushing to buy those unpredictable magazines was the only way to keep up to date with news from the music scene, from indie to rap and the underground, as well as cinema, art and design; but above all, the images and articles from Aelle, Il Mucchio Selvaggio, Pig and Rodeo, allowed you to keep up with the most fashionable height of jeans and the latest perfect sneaker (those who grew up between the 90s and the 2000s know that). Now that the 2000s trend is back, it's time to take a trip to discover those "cultural fashion" magazines that, more than any others, have contributed to consolidate, vitalize and spread the Y2K imaginary in Italy.

1. Aelle

When Il Mucchio Selvaggio closed the doors of its print edition in recent 2018, there were many who bitterly reclaimed the importance of the historic music magazine in Italian culture. Founded in Rome by Max Stèfani, Paolo Carù and Aldo Pedron in 1977, "in the year of Neil Young's American Stars'n Bars, David Bowie's Heroes and The Clash", the magazine started as a project dedicated to rock music, but over the time it incorporated other musical genres establishing itself as an inexhaustible envelope of culture, subversion and creativity.