RIP Flashy - Hello, Normcore
Fashion month continues on with Milan Fashion Week at center stage. Over-the-top, embellished looks have been the theme at many shows thus far, but off the runway, that doesn’t seem to be the look. Street style it girls have a new favorite means of styling.
Normcore is an emerging trend in which the wearer opts for clothes meant to be average. The word identifies both a look and a general attitude.
It’s quite similar to a nineties aesthetic. Normcore is the epitome of plain; it’s filled with t-shirts, distressed jeans, oversized sweaters, athletic wear and sneakers. Think of Larry David or Steve Jobs. Rather than striving for difference, it’s about embracing sameness.
Emily Segal of K-HOLE, a New York-based trend-forecasting group, is an expert when it comes to style movement.
"There's an exhaustion with trying to seem different. People are genuinely tired by the fact that to achieve status you need to be different from everyone else around you,” Segal said in an interview with British Vogue.
Normcore lets go of the need to stand out, and makes way for something new.
Ten years ago, Stella McCartney debuted a ready-to-wear collection with Adidas, and she’s produced another every season since. Now, British designer Mary Katrantzou has teamed up with Adidas to present a capsule collection of chic, athletic-inspired clothing to be released in November.
These lines are taking fashion by storm and Adidas has been a visionary for the new style era. You can find the collections anywhere from luxurious department stores like Harrod’s in London to smaller, high-end boutiques like Serenella-Boston. This is proof that normcore is the new black.
Theory even launched an athletic line last summer. It was a hit for its function as the perfect yoga-to-brunch wear. Much like this, luxury online retailer Net-a-Porter introduced its workout wear spinoff, Net-a-Sporter, in July.
Don’t forget about Karl Lagerfeld. He transformed Chanel’s fall/winter catwalk into a super-lux supermarket, and sent Cara Delevingne trotting down the aisles in distressed sweatpants and sneakers. When Chanel is in on the trend, that’s when you know.
The warm welcome to normcore from these fashion powerhouses is a key indication of fashion’s fixation with the bland, anti-style look.
It’s not about bulky college sweatshirts, but slim, body-conscious fabrics. Normcore isn’t completely un-stylish, it’s a more simple approach that suggests ingrained authority and inner confidence.
Recent findings by Harvard Business School say that store employees and fellow shoppers were found to perceive customers in gym wear as more confident and likely to splurge in luxury shops than those wearing animal skins and fine furs.
I think the Internet has taken normcore even further. New media has changed our relation to information, and, in turn, fashion. All it takes to discover the source of any garment is a few clicks. Online shopping has been revolutionized, making each season available for resale almost as soon as it goes on sale. Try saying that ten times fast.
When I first noticed normcore on coveted fashion websites and blogs, I never expected it to become so widespread. That being said, I’m not disappointed. If I can wear slip on sneakers in place of painful, high heels and not have that be frowned upon, I’ll take it.
With so many endorsements by top bloggers and street style muses along emerging high-end sportswear lines, normcore has spread like wildfire. Fashion has becoming overwhelmingly popular and pretentious, and taking a step back into this flat, practical style is just what the doctor ordered.
Cheers to the end of trends. For now. xx, ZM PHOTO COURTESY OF PINTEREST
These lines are taking fashion by storm and Adidas has been a visionary for the new style era. You can find the collections anywhere from luxurious department stores like Harrod’s in London to smaller, high-end boutiques like Serenella-Boston. This is proof that normcore is the new black.
Theory even launched an athletic line last summer. It was a hit for its function as the perfect yoga-to-brunch wear. Much like this, luxury online retailer Net-a-Porter introduced its workout wear spinoff, Net-a-Sporter, in July.
Don’t forget about Karl Lagerfeld. He transformed Chanel’s fall/winter catwalk into a super-lux supermarket, and sent Cara Delevingne trotting down the aisles in distressed sweatpants and sneakers. When Chanel is in on the trend, that’s when you know.
The warm welcome to normcore from these fashion powerhouses is a key indication of fashion’s fixation with the bland, anti-style look.
It’s not about bulky college sweatshirts, but slim, body-conscious fabrics. Normcore isn’t completely un-stylish, it’s a more simple approach that suggests ingrained authority and inner confidence.
Recent findings by Harvard Business School say that store employees and fellow shoppers were found to perceive customers in gym wear as more confident and likely to splurge in luxury shops than those wearing animal skins and fine furs.
I think the Internet has taken normcore even further. New media has changed our relation to information, and, in turn, fashion. All it takes to discover the source of any garment is a few clicks. Online shopping has been revolutionized, making each season available for resale almost as soon as it goes on sale. Try saying that ten times fast.
When I first noticed normcore on coveted fashion websites and blogs, I never expected it to become so widespread. That being said, I’m not disappointed. If I can wear slip on sneakers in place of painful, high heels and not have that be frowned upon, I’ll take it.
With so many endorsements by top bloggers and street style muses along emerging high-end sportswear lines, normcore has spread like wildfire. Fashion has becoming overwhelmingly popular and pretentious, and taking a step back into this flat, practical style is just what the doctor ordered.
Cheers to the end of trends. For now. xx, ZM PHOTO COURTESY OF PINTEREST
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