Brands see 'normcore' creators as 'millennial whisperers'

Washington

BEFORE "normcore" was a runner-up for the Oxford English Dictionary's "word of the year", before Jerry Seinfeld became the trend's unofficial brand ambassador, before New York Magazine introduced it to the world, there were just five 20-somethings on an art project.

Calling themselves K-HOLE, they created free PDFs of their version of "forecasting" trends. It didn't come from any survey data or calculated research. It didn't focus on fashion or tech or any one piece of consumerism. It was their collected observations on branding, presented through the lens of New York City artists.

Normcore, their moniker for being purposefully normal-looking, was just one of many observations, but it was the one that went viral. Now the K-HOLE team is trusted…