Normcore rejected fashion status wars by refusing to reveal taste through dress

Evidence

The concept was initially abstract, advocating a principled refusal to reveal personal preferences through apparel. But an article in The Cut soon associated normcore with a specific aesthetic: “Mall clothes. Blank clothes. The kind of dad-brand non-style you might have once associated with Jerry Seinfeld.” The look included gray sweatshirts, Patagonia fleeces, and the full “Steve Jobs”: mock turtlenecks, stonewashed jeans, and New Balance sneakers. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 406

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines normcore precisely — both its original abstract principle and the concrete ‘blank clothes’ aesthetic The Cut popularized.
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — dress as class/identity signaling, and the countersignal logic of refusing to signal.