by Hannah Twery, contributor
Photo by Memegenerator.net
A few months ago, a trend, or lack of trend, called normcore began floating around the internet. Normcore sounds like it could mean a plethora of things, like the MySpace pseudonym of someone named Norman who was hardcore in 2003. Normcore is actually non-trend in which hipsters dress like “normal people.” The New York Times thinks that normcore is just hipsters learning to stop being so pretentious, but many see the trend as a jab at average society. Think Seinfeld, Walmart t-shirts and your average suburban dad.
The creators of normcore view the trend as less of a joke than the rest of the people who are knowledgeable on the subject, and like to think of it as a sociological statement and way of life. Their ideal has rubbed off on normcore adopters as the trend has moved past just being about clothes. Fashion editor for Garmento, Jeremy Lewis, is in the same boat. Describing normcore as “the idea that one doesn’t need their clothes to make a statement.”
Recently, Bon Appétit published a list of foods that could be in your normcore diet including caesar salad and bread bowls. Metro even published an article about the most normcore bikini wax, something called a full bush Brazilian which I could describe right now, but I’ll spare you. One can assume normcore has almost reached its full “normal” potential judging on how many times the obscure trend has been mentioned on Buzzfeed (three articles and a quiz are dedicated to normcore, not to mention the times that the term slips into other articles).
So, does normcore sound like a trend bandwagon you’d like to hop on? Are you prepared to live your life like someone you’d see at Pike’s Nursery in Marietta on a Saturday afternoon? Are you ready to dress like George Costanza, give or take the bald spot? If you are, here are a few essentials you might need:
- Mom jeans: the great thing about mom jeans is that the term is unisex and they’re $20 at Walmart
- Birkenstocks: these potato shoes are about as normal as footwear gets
- Quarter zip fleece pullovers: in order to achieve the full normcore experience, you should purchase these at an outlet mall or TJ Maxx
- [insert sports team here] clothing: whether it’s pajama bottoms or baseball caps, it needs to be emblazoned with your dad’s favorite team (bonus points for a college team)
- Velcro wallets: chances are you have one of these bad boys lying around your parents’ house from when you were a youngin’
- Cargo shorts/pants: what would make you even more normcore would be if you had cargo pants that zipped off into shorts
- Six packs of plain white T-shirts: you can pick these up while you’re buying your mom jeans
- Windbreakers: look like you’re going to take a casual ride on a yacht or golf cart when in actuality you’re just going to Home Depot
- White sneakers (preferably New Balance): it’s an unspoken rule in suburbia that you must own at least one pair of white sneakers
- Anything from Gap: if classic Gap sweatshirts like the ones you might have worn in elementary school and Gap Dream perfume still existed I would specifically recommend those items
- Starbucks cup: pair this with a Starbucks gift card you got from your boss last Christmas and you’ll be set
- Trader Joe’s shopping bags: if you don’t have at least three of these in your trunk or in your house, your normcore game is weak
- An overwhelming ego: normcore followers may look normal, but they’re still hipsters
Do you still think you’re ready to lead a life of normalcy? Check back with me in a week and see if you’re still cool with tucking your stiff button down into your mom jeans and securing it with a woven leather belt.
