Professor Albert Muniz
Assignment #1 – Normcore
For this assignment, I want you to ponder the case for and against the existence of a cultural movement that relates to taste, status, consumption and fashion. The movement was dubbed normcore, a portmanteau of normal and hardcore. Normcore was first articulated in late 2013 by the New York based ‘trend forecasting group,’ K-Hole. Shortly thereafter, in early 2014, it received a flurry of media attention. In the jump from the trend articulated by K-Hole to its media coverage, its definition changed a bit, but some core ideas remained.
By Summer 2014, interest in it subsided, but the notion came up again in subsequent years. It also spawned a series of related portmanteaus (gorpcore, cottagecore, cluttercore, goblincore, etc) that connected to some other contemporary fashion trends. Broadly stated, your assignment is to review the evidence and, using what you’ve learned in this class, determine what exactly is going on. I want you to use concepts, theories and ideas from this class to explain normcore.
Read the following readings found on D2L. Yes, it’s a small library, but most are mainstream/popular press articles that are breezily written and easy to read.
1) Eckhardt, Giana M., Russell W. Belk, and Jonathan AJ Wilson (2015), “The rise of inconspicuous consumption,” Journal of Marketing Management 31 (7-8), 807-826.
The article above might be key to understanding all of the other articles and this movement. It’s an academic journal article, but it is well-written and insightful. ‘Il summarize it in our week 5 class meeting, but my summary will make more sense if you’ve tried to read it.
2) “Youth Mode: A Report on Freedom,” Khole.net, 2013
The article above is the original piece on the trend. It focused on some sociological changes that the members of K-hole were discerning in culture. If true, these trends probably have huge implications for consumer culture.
3) “Normcore: Fashion for those who realize they’re one in 7 billion,” by Fiona Duncan, New York Magazine, February 26, 2014.
4) “Why the “Normcore” Phenomenon Is a Fraud,” by Lauren Sherman, Elle, March 4, 2014
5) “Is Normcore really a thing?,” by Erica Cerulo, Vanity Fair, March 20, 2014.
6) “Normcore: Fashion movement or massive in-joke?,” by Alex Williams, The New York Times, April 2,
7) “Beware of Normcore,” by Simon Doonan, Slate Magazine, April 7, 2014.
8) “Irony, sincerity, normcore: Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Foster Wallace and the end of rebellion,” by R. Jay Magill, Jr., Salon, May 18, 2014
9) “The end of the hipster: how flat caps and beards stopped being so cool,” by Morwenna Ferrier, The Guardian, June 21, 2014.
10) “That’s A Total K-Hole Thing To Do,” by Danielle Sacks, Fast Company, May 11, 2015.
11) “First Came Normcore. Now Get Ready for Gorpcore,” by Jason Chen, The Cut, May 25, 2017.
Article #11 ponders another -core portmanteau.
12) “The Death of Clothing,” By Lindsey Rupp, Chloe Whiteaker, Matt Townsend and Kim Bhasin, Bloomberg.com, February 5, 2018.
13) “Millennials are dressing more like their parents — and it’s terrible news for H&M and Forever 21,” by Mary Hanbury, Business Insider, March 1, 2018.
14) “Dad wore it first; the cool of ugly,” by Max Berlinger, The New York Times, June 14, 2018.
Articles 12, 13 and 14 ponder other changes regarding clothing and fashion that may or may not relate to normcore.
15) “Cottagecore, cluttercore, goblincore deep down, it’s about who we think we are,” by Maura Judkis, The Washington Post, September 13, 2021.
Article #15 ponders a host of other -core portmanteaus.
16) “Frank Ocean’s in, so is Tom Holland: welcome to Normcore’s well-worn new wave,” by Finlay Renwick, British GQ, January 27, 2022.
Finally, article #16, nearly ten years later, treats normcore as if it is an established movement.
Following are some questions to get you thinking. You do not need to answer these questions, per se.
Rather, | want you to ponder these questions as you study the phenomenon in question.
What exactly is Normcore? Is Normcore real? Yes or no? There are lots (and LOTS) of essays written about these phenomena/this movement. No one can seem to agree if it is a thing or not. Is this what follows the successive status games of leisure -> social class -> coolness -> authenticity? What are the implications of this for consumer culture? Where do you see evidence to support your position?
How could you use what you have read and learned in this course to justify your position? I want you to apply concepts, ideas, assertions and theories from the readings, lectures and videos. You should find ample opportunities to connect this topic to ideas encountered in the first five weeks of this class. You should aim to make at least four or five meaningful connections to course content.
In two-thousand words or less, explain what is happening here. Interpret what you read and what you see, using the course readings,
lectures and videos to inform your thinking. Formulate an argument you wish to
make and integrate your thoughts into a cohesive and coherent essay. Make sure you explain the significance and the connection of any course content that you apply. There is no single right answer.
Rather, there are several paths you could take in your analysis that could be supported by what we have covered thus far in the course.
Citations. If you are citing one of the readings from the prompt, you can simply use the author’s last name and the year. If you are citing one of the course readings simply use the author’s last name and the year. To cite class videos or lectures, give me the title of the clip or lecture and the week number.
You can work on this project alone or in groups of up to three people. That is entirely your choice. Naturally, l will be expecting a ~little~ more from groups than solo work. Typically, the work on this particular assignment ranges from good to great to the truly astounding. Allow yourself to have a little fun with this.
This essay must be submitted via Digital Dropbox in D2L. If you work as group, you only need to submit one copy, but there are a few guidelines for submitting group work. First, have the student whose last name appears first alphabetically submit the paper. Second, list all student names (alphabetized by last name) in the D2L Dropbox submission form. Third, list all student names (alphabetized by last name) on the title page of the document. At the bottom of the paper, list the number of words in the document. The word count does not include references, or any other appendices you might want (but don’t have) to include.
Grading. I’m grading these papers on five dimensions, the first two weighted much more heavily than the last three. First, I’m looking at the quality of your understanding of the focal phenomena. In other words, how well do you understand the topic at hand? Second, ‘m looking at the quality of your connections to course content. How well did you use the ideas, concepts, theories and constructs from this class to understand the focal phenomena? Third, I’m looking at three technical considerations. A) Strength of argument: how well argued is it? Is it persuasive? Convincing? B) Clarity of writing: grammar and ease-of-comprehension. C)
Neatness of writing: Is it free of typological errors? The rubric can be found on the class D2L page.
