Plain and simple: Sartorial displays of the ordinary

The paper explores normcore as a symptom of signification exhaustion and discusses whether looking ordinary is a new strategy for distinction that challenges conventional status negotiations because looking bland is difficult to emulate. It also looks at themes of gender constructions to study how normcore pushes the boundaries of femininity in fashion. The key theoretical tool for studying normcore is a re-contextualization of Adolf Loos’ theory on ornamentation particularly in his formulation of the “urge for simplicity” and “standardization” as a
more ‘modern’ way of expressing individuality (Loos 1908).