normcore

From norm(al) (“according to norms or rules or to a regular pattern”) +‎ -core (suffix denoting genres of music and subcultures (often specialized and underground)),^[1][2] coined by the cartoonist Ryan Estrada in a guest comic strip for the webcomic Templar, Arizona on 17 September 2008:^[2][3] see the quotation.

It was popularized in a stylized, tongue-in-cheek trend report produced by the collective K-HOLE in 2013.^[4][5]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔːmkɔː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔɹmˌkoɹ/
• Hyphenation: norm‧core

normcore (uncountable)

1. (fashion) A unisex fashion trend characterized by average-looking, unpretentious clothing. [from 2008]
   • [2008 September 17, Ryan Estrada, “Ryan Estrada Day: Templar, Arizona”, in Templar, Arizona‎^[4], archived from the original on 2015-09-05:

     That means he's normcore. Dangerously regular. Dresses only in T-shirts an' jeans, uses slang appropriated from other sub cultures, but only 3 years after it's^{[sic – meaning its]} first use, an' only after it's been used in a sitcom.]

   • 2014, Harper Lin, chapter 3, in Croissant Murder (A Patisserie Mystery with Recipes; book 5), Kingston, Ont.: Harper Lin Books, →ISBN:

     Clémence would say that his style was normcore before normcore became a thing. She had to admit that she still found him attractive.

   • 2014 April 7, Simon Doonan, “Beware of Normcore”, in Slate‎^[5], New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-08-12:

     Normcore is gray sweatpants pretending to be trousers. Normcore is a seen-better-days faun-colored golf knit. Normcore is an unlogo'd sneaker. Normcore is the opposite of wearing a pair of white patent-leather bejeweled Versace assless chaps. Normcore is oblivious to Givenchy shaved-beaver man purses. Normcore knows nothing of fluorescent-studded Louboutin sneakers.

   • 2015 August, Joss Whedon, “Foreword”, in Felicia Day, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost): A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page x:

     Another part of her gift is that she's damn funny. Even if she'd come from the heart of normcore, her tale would be worth telling and well told. But she was raised in Crazytown, and the more foreign her territory, the more delightful—and somehow more relatable—her tale becomes.

2. (by extension, attributively) Any style that is mainstream or unremarkable.
   • 2015 December 9, Alexandria Symonds, “Art as social critique — with a little help from The Rolling Stones and Katy Perry”, in The New York Times‎^[6], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-21:

     "That's normcore painting, and that's what people are buying and trading now," [Deborah] Kass said, along with some slightly more colorful critique she opted to keep off the record.

• See Thesaurus:normal

• normcore on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• cromorne

normcore m (plural normcores)

1. normcore

Unadapted borrowing from English normcore.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɔrm.kɔr/
• Rhymes: -ɔrmkɔr
• Syllabification: norm‧core

normcore m inan

1. (fashion) normcore (unisex fashion trend characterized by average-looking, unpretentious clothing)

normcore m pers

1. (fashion, by extension) person who dresses in normcore style

   Synonyms: normals, normcorowiec

• normcore in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• normcore in Polish dictionaries at PWN