Normcore: The Dad Look

Dads seem to have an established uniform that solidifies them into fatherhood: jeans or khakis, a fleece zip-up, and some form of sneaker. Not something we would usually be dying to emulate, right? Well, wrong. A new trend, titled Normcore, has exploded as of recently and has fashionistas everywhere raiding their fathers closets.

Essentially, Refinery 29 gave us a spot on breakdown: “Normcore is the aggressively generic clothes worn by Times Square tourists — and, increasingly, by the 20-something intelligentsia in New York and other style capitals. Think hopelessly unstylish, middle-American wear: puffy, white sneakers; loose chinos; unbranded, curve-brim baseball caps; socks with sandals. It’s New Balance instead of Nikes, track pants instead of printed trousers. It’s how your middle-school earth-science teacher dressed.”

By many in the fashion world, this has been deemed an “anti-style” movement. While this may be true, I am not so convinced. With trends that were once out of the norm becoming mainstream and available to the masses, people are moving away from those styles and onto the ones that have been forgotten…like the 90’s styles of our fathers and not in a good way. In the piece The Cut wrote about normcore, they did a great job of pointing out that clothing changes based on who is wearing it. So for the fashionista throwing this look on, it sends a different message than the tourists wandering aimlessly in Times Square.

Personally, I am not sold on the look, but we all have elements of it in our style as it is. I’m interested to see where this goes, and how long it sticks around. Thoughts?

Photo via The Cut