S.U.N.Y. FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NORMCORE: A 2014 TREND AND THE END OF POSTMODERNISM IN FASHION A QUALIFYING PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE DIVISION OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS FASHION AND TEXTILE STUDIES: HISTORY, THEORY, MUSEUM PRACTICE BY J. LEIA LIMA BAUM NEW YORK, NEW YORK DECEMBER 2016 ProQuest Number:10252173 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ProQuest 10252173 Published by ProQuest LLC ( 2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 ©2016 J. Leia Lima Baum All Rights Reserved This Qualifying Paper was submitted by J. Leia Lima Baum in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Fashion and Textile Studies December 2016 Lourdes Font, Advisor Denyse Montegut, Chairperson Mary E. Davis, Dean ABSTRACT In October 2013, a New York-based trend forecasting company, K-HOLE, introduced the concept of normcore in a manifesto titled Youth Mode: A Report on Freedom. The text is not singularly concerned with fashion, but offers an analysis of general ideas about youth and consumerism, with particular interest in notions of sameness and difference, and community and belonging. In February 2014, New York Magazine published a story on normcore and connected the idea with a particular style of dress that was prevalent in urban street style. Normcore soon became synonymous with pleasure in basic dress, a deliberately inelegant sense of style, and a paradoxically fashionable un-fashionableness. For my qualifying paper, I analyzed the concept of normcore and its relationship with fashion. The first stage of my research was an analysis of how normcore was presented to the public via the fashion press. The second stage of my research was a return to the original source of normcore: a thorough examination of K-HOLE’s manifesto Youth Mode, which varies greatly from how the concept was transmitted via the fashion press and how it related to a particular style of dress. Studying Youth Mode provides insight into how the next generation of artists, thinkers, consumers, and fashion designers will change the face of fashion. Lastly, I applied my knowledge of fashion history and summarized my findings from the first two stages of my research. I suspect that normcore is an indicator that we are entering, or have already entered, a post-postmodern era. Because normcore is indeed representative of a transitional period, then my comparing it to other major historical changes between fashion eras will be valuable to the study of contemporary fashion. CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................... ii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. “LOL NORMCORE”: A FASHION TREND .............................................................. 9 What is Normal? 2. NORMCORE AND “THE PATH TO A MORE PEACEFUL LIFE” ....................... 26 Alternative Mass Indie Acting Basic Normcore 3. THE END OF POSTMODERNISM IN FASHION .................................................. 48 The Fashion Fractal The Rules of Fashion Democracy The Fashionable Body The Fashion System Conclusion ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................................ 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 110 i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Phoebe Philo at the end of the Céline Fall 2012 ready-to-wear presentation on March 6, 2011, AP Photo/François Mori .......................................................................... 73 2. A model shows an ensemble from Yves Saint Laurent’s Spring 1971 Libération collection, Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent ................................................. 74 3. Corinne Day, “Kate Moss,” 1990 .................................................................................. 75 4. Left, Larry David, ca. 2013, REX; right, Preston Chaunsumlit, ca. 2013, Tumblr ...... 76 5. Tommy Ton, street style during the Spring 2013 New York Fashion Week ................ 77 6. A model pushes a supermarket cart at Chanel’s Fall 2014 presentation, Getty Images ...................................................................................................................... 78 7. Nicolas Coulomb, “New Faces by Nicolas Coulomb,” Novembre, October 2013 ....... 79 8. Kate Moss in Alexander McQueen’s Fall 1996 Ready-to-Wear collection, Condé Nast Archive .......................................................................................................... 80 9. Peter Lindbergh, “Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford,” January 1990 .................................................. 81 10. Hanes, “We were #normcore before #normcore was #normcore,” Twitter, April 10, 2014 .................................................................................................................... 82 11. Craig McDean, “Banal Plus,” W Magazine, September 2014 ..................................... 83 12. Sharon Stone at the 1998 Academy Awards, Getty Images ........................................ 84 13. Ryan Estrada, guest strip for Templar, AZ, September 17, 2008. ............................... 85 14. Occupy Wall Street, “‘Civilians’ Spring Training,” March 29, 2012 ......................... 86 15. David Sims, “Kurt Cobain,” The Face, September 1993 ............................................ 87 16. Stephen Sweet, “Kurt Cobain with his daughter, Frances Bean,” 1993, REX Images ....................................................................................................................... 88 17. Matt Irwin, “Cara Delevingne,” K-HOLE, Youth Mode, 15 ....................................... 89 18. Nicolas Coulomb, “Ona by Nicolas Coulomb,” Novembre, December 5, 2013 ........ 90 ii 19. Woman with tan lines, K-Hole, Youth Mode, 32 ......................................................... 91 20. David Bowie in SoHo, ca. 2015, Spokeo/W.E.N.N. .................................................. 92 21. Gucci, Fall 2016 Ready-to-Wear, Yannis Vlamos/Indigital.tv ................................... 93 22. Jacques-Louis David, Mme Recamier, ca. 1800, Musée de Louvre, Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y. ..................................................................................... 94 23. Left, evening dress, British, ca. 1810, Victoria and Albert Museum; right, Paul Poiret, “Eugenie” dress, ca. 1907, Musée des Arts Décoratifs ................................. 95 24. Young Thug for Calvin Klein, Fall 2016, Instagram .................................................. 96 25. Mark Zuckerberg, “First day back after paternity leave. What should I wear?” January 25, 2016, Instagram .............................................................................................. 97 26. Left, fashion plate, Magasin des modes nouvelles, françaises et anglaises, décrites d'une manière claire & précise, & représentées par des planches en taille-douce, enluminées, 1786, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica; right, Robert Dighton, Beau Brummell, 1805, University of California, San Diego ................. 98 27. Left, Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry VIII, ca. 1540, Galleria nazionale d'arte antica, Rome, SCALA, Florence/Art Resource, N.Y.; right: Anthony Van Dyck, Charles I, King of England, During a Hunting Party, ca. 1636, Musée de Louvre, Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archives/Art Resource, N.Y. .................................. 99 28. Viviane Sassen, advertisement for Acne Studios, Fall 2015 .................................... 100 29. Linda Rodin, The Row lookbook, Pre-Fall 2014 ...................................................... 101 30. Beyoncé at the Met Gala in a custom dress by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy, May 4, 2015, Lucas Jackson, Reuters ............................................................................. 102 31. Kendall Jenner at the MuchMusic Awards in a dress by Fausto Puglisi on June 15, 2014, Getty Images ........................................................................................... 103 32. Jeanloup Sieff, Yves Saint Laurent for Pour Homme, 1971 ..................................... 104 iii 33. Left, Sies Marjan, Fall 2016 Ready-to-Wear, Vogue.com; right, Giambattista Valli, Fall 2016 Couture, Yannis Vlamos/Indigital.tv. .............................. 105 34. Alice Goddard, “Street Style,” Hot & Cool Issue No. 5, Spring 2013 ...................... 106 35. “15 Nov 1996, Arnhem, NL, 14:45-15:45” from Hans Eijkelboom, People of the Twenty-First Century (London: Phaidon Press, 2014) .................................................... 107 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. “Postmodernism Practice and Style: A Rubric,” compiled by the Special Topics 2014 Seminar Participants, Fashion Institute of Technology M.A. Program in Fashion