Basic Instinct

Normcore, the hipster anti-style, was back on the spring runways. But this time. it's all grown up.

- By Kristen Bateman

When Kate Moss made a surprise appearance on Bottega Veneta’s spring 2023 runway, perhaps the biggest shock was what she was wearing. The icon who launched a thousand Pinterest boards had traded her glam It Girl ensembles for simple, oversize jeans and a Kurt Cobain–worthy flannel-print shirt. The moment turned out to be a trend indicator of sorts, as the season hummed with white undershirts, reimagined denim (rendered in leather at Bottega Veneta or comically oversize at Vaquera), and quirky dad caps on street-style stars. Welcome to the new era of normcore—and all the 2010s nostalgia that comes with it.

We’ve been living in a period of maximalist fashion during the pandemic, and now that more-is-more approach is starting to rub off on even the humblest of garments for spring. Just look at Miu Miu’s layered T-shirts or Peter Do’s, Alaïa’s, or Valentino’s oversize, reimagined button-downs: The most classic of wardrobe staples are coming back into style with a subversive vengeance.