TEXT ANDERS CHRISTIAN MADSEN
there’s nothing special about normcore
was growing up in a culture like that which made me swear to never join the ranks
grateful that at last they can wear the plain grey jumper and straight-cut jean to work
of normalcy. If anything serves as a stop sign for the mentality Normcore inevitably
they always dreamed of wearing, why exactly is it that they didn’t just wear it before?
promotes, it’s these kinds of societies: bubbles in which deviation is more or less
I mean, if they have only been dressing up until now because they were agonisingly
frowned upon. So when I was first confronted with Normcore and my fellow Londoners’
following various fads, life must have been tough.
instant infatuation with it, I couldn’t help but find the idea somewhat spoiled. Here is
It’s not like the chance to dress Normcore hasn’t been an option both socially and
an urban culture, which has given its residents infinite space and encouragement to
commercially since the 60s. If you were so hell-bent on being fashionably neutral,
express themselves - you can be a punker, a raver, or dress up like a giant chicken if you
what were you doing collecting Givenchy Rottweiler jumpers and stripy Prada platform
want - and they embrace bland anonymity like it’s the second coming.
brogues for the past couple of years when you could have been going all out at Margaret
I understand it. If you’ve spent your entire life surrounded by colour, grey must have
Howell? The thing is, if you’re truly Normcore, you’ve been dressing like it your entire
a peaceful appeal about it. It’s nearly ten years ago now since the fashion club scene
life. If you opened your wardrobe pre-2014 and there were seven things in it and you
was flooded with the most extreme sense of expression I’d ever experienced in my
wore them all the day before and the day before that, you’re pretty true Normcore. If
life. Nu Rave was taking over East London, and everywhere you looked were a gaudy
you opened your wardrobe pre-2014 and there were 70 things in it because you’ve got
drag queen, a girl with a phone on her head or a guy dressed as a disco ball. When
10 of each garment, it’s the case even more so! If you take a BuzzFeed quiz to find out
it was over, around late 2007, it was really over. People were so fed up with colour,
which celebrity you are and you’re either Will Ferrell, Ellen Page, or anyone from the
gimmicks and glitter; all they wanted was a night-in and some rigid, black-and-white
cast of Seinfeld, then you are truly Normcore. But if none of the above applies and
tailoring to go with it. As infectious as Nu Rave had been when it first arrived, as
you’re still wearing a bleakly coloured Members Only jacket, you’re just a bit trendy.
repulsive did it become towards the end. So passé did this club kid movement feel that
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with following the trends. (By all means, please go
people effectively started practising disassociation by blandness, and since the fun and
ahead and maintain a basis for my job.) But subscribing to a craze like Normcore, which
flamboyance of Nu Rave equalled uncool, what could be cooler than being boring? The
requires so much care to look careless seems like those girls who spend hours doing a
bigger the wave, the greater its wake, and when the post-fabulous era of chic boredom
“make-up free” make-up look, Bobbi Brown style. It’s all quite self-conflicting. There’s
set in, it was in it for the long run, fuelled by our newfound need for seriousness caused
nothing natural, relaxed or indeed normal about being so obsessive about looking non-
by the recession. So in essence, I blame Nu Rave for Normcore.
obsessive, the whole idea actually makes the phenomenon entirely redundant. If only
Back in the mid-late 00s, I experienced fashion’s state of mind as a kind of cold turkey,
it had a touch of self-irony… but for all its hipster appeal, Normcore doesn’t strike me
albeit without the shaking and the sweating. The willingness for the sober created
as the most tongue-in-cheek type of trend. In a world where character is key, choosing
a much-needed platform for designers like Richard Nicoll and Alexander Wang, who
the nondescript is really rather pretentious, but for some I guess that’s the appeal.
founded their labels in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and Raf Simons, after his successful
And in that sense, it could be a blessing in disguise for those of us who abide by a
takeover at Jil Sander in 2005. “‘Perfect boring’ and ‘special normal’ are terms I came
diametrically opposite approach to dressing, and have, on occasion, been sneered at
up with to explain my designs when I was working on my main collection,” Nicoll
for looking extravagant. Because next to Normcore’s pious rules for dressing down,
once said, practically carving out K-Hole’s coining of Normcore way ahead of its time.
covering yourself in designer print garments that were, say, embroidered by hand using
Back then, we craved not the normal, but the boring: the urban solitude and personal
some elaborate medieval method suddenly doesn’t seem so pretentious anymore.
space that dressing down creates. What these designers did was a natural step in
Fashion is about expression. Many different and contrasting styles make the world
the evolution of fashion. As street style stars took over from club kids and the fashion
visually interesting. While I’m not usually in the business of discouraging people
show entrance became the new dance floor, our views on seeking attention seemed
from dressing the way they want, I have a hard time detecting the visually interesting
to change. While the craving to get noticed was no doubt the same, it was suddenly
element in Normcore. It can be as intellectually fascinating as it wants, but if it’s not
Fashion’s newest movement wants you to look normal in a hardcore way. But under normcore
all about looking as if you didn’t really care, and hadn’t really made an effort anyway.
eye-catching what exactly is its contribution to the world? In a Western society that’s
circumstances, the world is a bleak place. Don’t do it!
These days it’s not cool to be a street style victim. If you want to get real street cred,
spent the better part of the last century or two breaking down conventions and creating
“effortless” and “blasé” are your go-to words.
freedom of speech, freedom of appearance, there is nothing exciting about looking or
Our fear of being those kids in fancy dress, who eagerly follow the photographer around
being normal, let alone striving for it. Normcore’s fearlessness of being dull is pretty
the party all night, has created a set of unwritten rules on how to be cool, which are
brave in a world that expects the opposite, but wouldn’t you rather want a little magic
so fascist and restrictive they’re constantly refuelling their own power tank. It must
in these times of endless social and economic despair? Of course, if Normcore is good
be exhausting to be an aspiring street style star right now, having to put so much
for nothing else, perhaps it will finally make people invest in some boring basics of a
energy into dressing interestingly in an under-the-top way so photographers and your
better quality instead of always hitting the high street for them. Because when all is
peers will think you’re just naturally Normcore. But unless your initial reaction to the
said and done, basics are all these people wear, right? Looking at it that way, Normcore
word Normcore is “huh?” there is no such thing. All around the fashion publishing
is just another parade of the Emperor’s New Clothes: something incredibly old posing
sphere, on printed pages and digital sites, people are currently letting out sighs of relief
as something entirely new. And in a fashion world that hasn’t had an original idea since
that Normcore has “finally arrived”, exclamation points in tow. But if they’re really so
grunge, teasing with fake newness is just plain cruel. Tweet @anderscmadsen
When we decided to tackle Normcore with opposing opinion pieces, taking the anti
has come to describe the current trend for dressing “normal” and doing “normal”
stance seemed only appropriate to me. Nothing could be more anti than a phenomenon
things in a particularly dedicated way, rather than its intended use. Normcore is a
that pretty much renounces self-expression, so in these times of Normcore, what could
single-coloured T-shirt, a plain pair of jeans and an everyday trainer, all unbranded and
reflect the trend better than being anti the trend itself? There’s a certain irony in the
calmly monotone. It’s an unexceptional haircut, an asexual dress and a nondescript suit,
fact that something which is essentially meant as anti-fashion ends up being the trend
anti-styled and devoid of personality. It was also the word popularly employed by the
of the season. And the irony doesn’t stop there. In search of the earliest definition of
press throughout the autumn/winter 14 shows, where designers engaged in displays of
the term I came across a clarification from the trend-forecasting agency K-Hole, who
Normcore such as Chanel’s everyday supermarket set and Louis Vuitton’s beige travel
coined the term, setting the record straight. “Normcore means you pursue every activity
lounge. And just so I don’t get any hipster legal action from diehard normcorists, please
like you’re a fanatic of the form,” they wrote. “It doesn’t really make sense to identify
let the record show that this is the definition of Normcore to which I’ll refer in my
Normcore as a fashion trend, the point of Normcore is that you could dress like a
following take-down of the phenomenon on the whole. Because: why would anyone in
NASCAR mascot for a big race and then switch to raver wear for a long druggy night at
their right mind want to look normal, or worse, be normal?
the club. It’s about infinitely flexible, sunny appropriation.” Like they tell you when you
I grew up in Denmark, also known as Minimalism Central. It’s the country that brought
sign up for a job in retail, Normcore is a lifestyle, not a phase. And apparently it comes
you organically sculpted Arne Jacobsen furniture, optical white fashion stores with
with a manual, too. It’s hard work being normal.
virtually nothing in them, and trains where a passive aggressive speaker says, “On
As things go, people couldn’t care less what the real definition of a word is - just ask
time,” whenever they call at a station. Everything in Denmark is clean and orderly, no
“irony”, “literally” and “enormity” - and over the course of a few months, Normcore
one steps out of line, and everyone pretty much looks and acts the same. I’m sure it
“Fashion is about expression. Many different and contrasting styles make the street come to life, and this is what makes the world visually interesting. I have a hard time detecting the interesting element in Normcore. It can be as intellectually fascinating as it wants, but if it’s not eye-catching what exactly is its contribution to fashion and to the world?” ANDERS CHRISTIAN MADSEN
172 i-D MAGAZINE
i-D MAGAZINE 173