normcore

Meanwhile, a decade after “Pattern Recognition,” K-HOLE, a marketing think tank modelled on the one in the novel, popularized Cayce’s fashion philosophy in the form of “normcore,” a trend—forecasted, then real—based on the idea of secretive, informed, intentional blankness.

How William Gibson Keeps His Science Fiction Real Condé Nast 2019

Normcore, of course, is the tongue-in-cheek neologism first brought into wider consciousness in 2013 by the trend-forecasting group K-Hole.

This is a post about post-normcore Darcie Wilder 2019

“Normcore,” the K-HOLE concept, became normcore, a handy catchall term for describing a burgeoning, semi-ironic style of wearing “ardently ordinary clothes.”

Normcore Was Always a Misunderstood Fantasy SSENSE 2024

The other response was epitomized by a deliciously rhymey neologism (originally taken from a punch line in a comic strip) called “normcore,” which K-HOLE used to describe a slippery philosophy to adopt based on ambiguity and code-switching between social situations.

Normcore Was Always a Misunderstood Fantasy SSENSE 2024

But things really took off in 2013 with the emergence of normcore, a catchall term for describing someone who wears “normal” clothes such as a fleece, dad jeans and New Balance trainers.

Why the French have fallen out of cœur with core Chloe Mac Donnell 2025

But things really took off in 2013 with the emergence of normcore, a catchall term for describing someone who wears “normal” clothes such as a fleece, dad jeans and New Balance trainers.

Why the French have fallen out of cœur with core Chloe Mac Donnell 2025

Or, to use a phrase coined by the trend forecaster Sean Monahan, who gave the world normcore (2014) and vibe shift (2022), fashion wants us to look boom boom.

Boom boom culture: fashion’s flashy, sleazy and sudden vibe shift Morwenna Ferrier 2025