WTF Is A "Normcore Body," Exactly?

Like your mom navigating "The Facebook" for the first time, fashion people continue to be confused about normcore whilst longing to embrace the idea. Style.com provided more evidence of that phenomenon in "The Big Ask," a feature released this week in anticipation of Fashion Month, in which author Maya Singer referred to an as-yet-undiscovered trend called "normcore body."

"What's a normcore body?" you ask, as you coyly pinch your midsection and wonder if you might have one. I'm not sure even Singer knows, but here's her definition. "Back in the '90s, before juice cleanses and SoulCycle and Body Ecology diets and 30-Day Bikram yoga challenges, there were actresses like Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder, and [...] Sandra Bullock, who were exceedingly attractive and quite slim who nevertheless didn't come off like people who spent all their time and mental energy on their appearance." Hi, that's called being skinny without really trying and encouraging that of women is dangerous and unhealthy.

This train of thought, aside from totally missing the point of normcore, is the same logic used by women who refuse to lift weights because they don't want to get "big." Oooo, don't exercise! Just lay around and will your body to burn calories so you can be "skinny flabby" (Singer's words, don't shoot the messenger) and not supertoned like all those other girls who are clearly trying too hard. EYE. ROLL.

Soooo not a normcore body.

Sorry, fit ladies. You're just not cool enough to sit with the normcore, #wokeuplikethis girls with their flat but not too flat stomachs and skinny but muscle-free arms. Maybe just sit around not lifting a muscle for a few weeks and get back to us?

Look, I get what Maya Singer is trying to say here — that we don't need to work our bodies into oblivion to be pretty. I also 100 percent recognize that there are women who are naturally slim with or without exercise (and vice versa). But "normcore body" reeks of all manner of body-shaming and that is not okay. Bodies aren't a trend and it's not okay to define them as such. Better save the term "normcore" for Gap shoppers and leave our waistlines out of it.

Images: Getty