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

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

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