Normcore : när antimode blir mode.

Sammanfattning: The object of this thesis is to analyze and discuss normcore and its discursive relationship to subculture and mainstream. The urban district Williamsburg and the French fashion brand Céline will respectively be used as cases to exemplify these two different aspects. Normcore is an attitude that the trend agency K-HOLE mapped out in their report Youth mode: A Report on Freedom. The attitude turned into a statement that showed resistance to studious fashion looks; normcore stands in contrast to being overdressed. Instead it is characterized by anonymity and detail-free design and is therefore known as an anti-fashion. Anti-fashion as a concept is the main framework to create an understanding of normcore in relation to both fashion and anti-fashion. The thesis’ aim is also to investigate how normcore can be understood as both subculture and at the same time as a commercial phenomenon in its capacity as both fashion and anti- fashion. The study is organized as a comparative discursive analysis. Discourse theory, trickle-up theory, fashion-ology, fashion and its guardians, theories about subculture and commercialism as well as theories about fashion and its relationship to anti-fashion are the theoretical perspectives in the thesis. We highlight normcore and it’s different characteristics in different contexts, thereby indicating how phenomena and their significance can vary depending on context. The study emphasizes that anti-fashion does not constitute a de facto resistance to fashion since the contemporary cultural society is accepting of different expressions. There is therefore nothing to truly be in opposition to. Subcultural statements cannot be separated from fashion and consumption culture; anti- fashion approaches fashion.