Thursday, May 8, 2014

Normcore. You heard it here first (probably.)

Recently I was weeding out my closet when I came across a like-new pair of black suede Birkinstocks. They must have been 10 years old, although I would like to think that they haven't been lurking on my closet floor that long. I put them on an sighed with the pleasure of the familiar. For many years I wore only Birks, summer and winter.(with other suitable coverage, of course.) I have difficult feet and there is something so-out-they-are- in about Birks. In recent years I have migrated to Tom's, but the siren song of a good, ugly pair of Birks began trilling to me on that closet floor, and in no time, I was wearing them to the grocery store, Home Depot and all my usual high-life spots.

My daughter commented, "Nice shoes. Very normcore of you."

What?

Yes, boys and girls. I am a trendsetter.  If you don't believe me, just read the Style section of today's New York Times.

Now there seems to be little or no agreement about what this word means, but if you are trending, as I obviously am, you'll know it when you see it. One view says it is pragmatism wedded to feminism. Another refers to it as a suburban sensibility(not any suburb I know around Atlanta. Must be a NY suburb.) It includes: no makeup - I mean intentionally; a return to the 90's. (What were the 90's like anyway? I don't remember.) Sort of a cut-to -the-chase attitude, as I read it.

That's me all over the place!  I have this trend covered, and I didn't even know it. As long as "no make-up" doesn't cover Burt's Bees Lip Balm, without which the sun will not rise tomorrow.

I am headed to NY soon for a little ballet immersion therapy and I am thinking of wearing my Birks. Due to the general filthyness of the city, I'll pair them with some clever sox, such as leopard print, one-fish-two-fish-red-fish-blue-fish patterned, and so forth.  I expect to be the darling of the fashion world in no time. Of course everything else I plan to wear is black, to be assured of not being mistaken for a tourist. I'll let you know how it goes.

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