Normcore Seduction

I started writing this as an e-mail to my mom, brother and good friend Shawn. But i realized that with the amount of links and images i wanted to include it'd work out better as a blog post, and be easier for the intended audience to read. I hope the rest of you will enjoy this as well, if not please skip it and go on to more fun for the weekend.

So, on the anniversary of my birth, my mom has very generously offered to get me a couple of credit-card-points-related-giftcards to the vendor of my choice. As a result, I've been shopping around the various stores, mostly looking for a little jacket to replace this one from Royal Robbins which is a wee bit worse for wear. 

The yoke separating from the collar at center back. Requires major recon surgery

 But this jacket is around ten years old, so from that point of view i think it's in great shape, especially considering i wear it on average three or four times a week. It's wonderful for grocery shopping as well as my walks.

fraying edges all over the place, bleaching along the weave of the cotton fabric

Browsing through middle American consumeriana, nothing really caught my eye until - the one. The Women's Regular Lightweight Spring Club Jacket in Desert Khaki.

image courtesy Land's End

Love the color - natch, it's from Land's End which makes nice sturdy pieces (a big consideration for me, obviously), the fabric is lightweight so good for warm/hot days in providing sun protection as well as pockets.....

i think it would be so fun - minimal and utiliatarian at once, which is a scarcer combo than one might expect. I want to wear it with these boots and jeans and a Gibson Girl blouse.

Antiqued-up utilitarian and all that. I've also been obsessing on Bridge and Burn pieces the last few months, for example the glamorously quotidian Straat jacket....

Straat by Bridge and Burn, image courtesy Bridge and Burn

...but mostly - NORMCORE TO THE MAX BABY!!!

But poor Tony! Friday nite i started talking about how this jacket i'm considering is so normcore, and he got all huffy and requested that i consider speaking in "actual English". feh! Of course, Saturday morning i opened a couple of articles on normcore and left them temptingly open on his computer monitor.....sure enough, a couple of hours later and he's avidly researching it; by afternoon he knows much more than i ever did and can quote from the prominent writers on the topic.

The upshot? Finally the spouse has a term he can use to describe me to the general public. Also, he wants to make a tee shirt saying "%$#@ Normcore!" Goodness, such strong language! But it is understandable, seeing as Mr. E is of Italian descent and takes his attire quite seriously.

I'm a little leery of jumping in and purchasing such a piece online, in-real-life-sight unseen. But Land's End is the queen of returns for any reason, no questions asked, as well as being known throughout the land for their high quality standards. I'm leaning strongly towards just taking the leap. (As an aside - what is it about gift funds which makes them so much easier to spend on out of the ordinary or risky purchases? Don't know, but i find it to be one of gift funds' major charms.) (And what does it say about me as a style entity that i view buying a khaki - okay, beige - ultra-mundane suburban wasp-y mom jacket as 'a risk'?)

Anyways, Shawn i know you actually read that all that literature i sent you on "the 'core" so i had to bring this development to your attention. Note for TDE readers: Shawn is the only reason i have any credibility whatever when it comes to current elements of the art and culture scene. His own style i'd describe as authentic normcore, his reaction to the trend: "That normcore was pretty funny. The girl in the first photo is wearing my hat! I think of my fashion as being more like 'ab-normlcore' from the Walmart After Dark series."

No way i can top that. With that image in mind, i bid you all a wonderful holiday weekend!