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Extreme consumerism is not the sole reason why Normcore became so popular. Social condition is often closely intertwined with trends. That is to say, the structure of a society can be disclosed by analyzing the way people dress.
Our appearance no longer symbolizes wealth or social acceptability
Convention was that “not dressing up = poor”, but this view is no longer true. People of higher class used to differentiate themselves from those of lower class by the way they dressed in order to stabilize their high social status and protect themselves. Which behavior is no longer necessary in our modern time.
For example, within IT industry, one of the most highly regarded industries of our time, it is common to see young ordinary people establishing a company that quickly turns into a big business and starts to influence people’s lives tremendously. Such IT entrepreneurs tend to be rationalists and not interested in dressing up.
Extremely famous, influential, and well-off people like Steve Jobs started to appear at formal occasions dressed in such simple outfit. It was only natural that people started to follow this style.
Change in appearance = Birth of a new sociality
The fact that society accepted such people’s behaviours suggests that it is shifting its requirements from uniform (ex. wearing suits) to individuality and expression.
Why? Let us start by thinking what suits are. Suits have been playing an important role in social life throughout history.
The main purposes of wearing suits are as follows:
・To demonstrate social class
・To gain trust as a social being
・To express one’s sense of belonging to a certain group
・To express loyalty to a certain organization
However, the IT people mentioned earlier do not wear suits in a public setting where suit is the appropriate attire. Nor will they be accused or ignored for not wearing it.There’s just nothing wrong about it.This shows that the people nowadays no longer need to follow these four principles. As seen above, by analyzing change in people’s appearances, we can come to understand the current social situation.
Summary: The reasons why Normcore as a fashion style became popular
1. With the change in social structure, the recognition to dress up has also changed.
2. As a result of endless encouragement on consumerism, fashion system itself began to be consumed.
3. Extreme consumerism exhausted the industry and left consumers with no other choice but to choose “ultimate normal”.
Normcore is a product of these intertwined factors. This phenomenon suggests that a fundamental change needs to be made in the fashion system that once replaced the class society. The popularity of Normcore, I would say, slowly and silently marked the end and change of the existing social system.
Now, you must be curious about the coming future. In order to find that out, first allow me to sum up the discussion.
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