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The Parent Trip: Normcore

Brace yourself. What I’m about to tell you may completely rock your world...

By Shelby Cain

Contributor

Brace yourself.  What I’m about to tell you may completely rock your world.  If you’re not already sitting, it might be a good idea.  And as you pull out a chair, glance down at yourself.  What are you wearing?  Do the words cutting edge fashion spring to mind?  Well, if you’re sporting anything in the neighborhood of a worn out cotton shirt, ill-fitting pants with a few badly placed holes, and somewhat ugly footwear you purchased because of the wide yet comfortable toebox… you are all the rage.  Seriously.

There is a new movement in the fashion world.  It’s called Normcore.  Yup.  Normcore.  The idea?  Dress like a ‘normal person’.  By normal, I think they mean us.  People who are driving their kids to school, riding their bike to work, or pretty much doing anything where they have to walk or stand for more than ten consecutive minutes.  Oh, and want to be comfortable while doing it.  That part is crucial to the movement.  So if you still wear stuff you wore in the late nineties, or if you dress yourself based strictly on what’s comfortable, practical, and durable, then you, my friend, are a Normcore expert.

Believe it or not, starving young men and women in Europe and the U.S. are strutting the runways and gracing the pages of the world’s biggest fashion magazines wearing faded Coors Light T-shirts, fanny packs, mom jeans and Teva sandals.  I kid you not.

So, here’s my question.  Is this the best, or the worst fashion trend you’ve ever heard of?  When I think of high fashion, I conjure up something outlandish, ridiculous, impossible to execute real life in.  Are the tables now turned?  Is what we wear on a daily basis considered outlandish to the fashion elite, and therefore the latest and greatest in high fashion?  Maybe.

I mean, let’s face it.  When I think of where we live, I think of world-class wilderness, world-class views, world-class adventures.  I do not think of world-class fashionistas.  No offence, I just don’t think it’s really on the top of our priority list.

If the decision comes down to new bike shoes or a new pair of shorts to replace the stretched out ones with the fly that continuously creeps down… I’m prepared to do the extra zipping.  Normally, this attitude does not lend well to being a fashion trendsetter.  Except for now.  Right now.

 

But I think we need to strike while the iron is hot.  Like shoulder pads, M.C. Hammer pants, track suits or showing the top of your thong… this too shall pass.  So put on those Teva’s with… well, anything.  Dig your purple MEC fleece out of the cupboard.  If you still have your old Birkenstocks… bravo.  If not, order a new pair.  Let’s enjoy being a little pocket of fashion perfection.  Hooray for Normcore!