Hands up, who’s sick of normcore? What began life as an interesting style trend has been recycled and re-appropriated into total meaninglessness. Model in an anorak? Normcore. White trainers? Normcore. Slider sandals? Normcore. Basically, I’d be happy if I never heard the word attached to any item of clothing ever again. But I’ll make an exception for one thing: underwear.
If there’s anything in fashion that would benefit from a normcore make-under, it’s lingerie. Year after year, women are flogged undergarments that equate sexiness with lurid cut-out holes, frilly ribbons and more see-through lace than your nan’s net curtains. There are enough ruffles and sequins in a half-hour Victoria’s Secret show to keep a thousand drag queens in business for months.
But for every sex kitten who adores her ouvert panties (that’s fancy lingerie-speak for ‘crotchless knickers’), there’s a girl who feels, well, kind of dumb.
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I know because I’m one of them. I tried to like suspenders and thongs and basques. I even gave G-strings a shot, and those pants that miraculously stay together despite being entirely composed out of straps. But I never felt like a VS Angel – I just felt hella awkward. Instead of ascending to a higher level of seduction, I’d descended to trying (and failing) to fix my wedgie in public.
Then American Apparel came into my life – or more specifically, their baby rib brief. Dov Charney’s creeptastic reign of terror aside, the brand excelled at one thing: making male Y-fronts look hot on girls. When Ellen Page fronted the cover of Interview magazine playing peekabo with the white waistband of her AA pants, I knew I’d found my underwear soulmate.
Still, lingerie remained stubbornly obsessed with all things frilly and fancy – until now. The new intimates collection from cooler-than-thou Swedish label Acne consists of cotton high-waisted nude undies. Kendall Jenner basically broke Instagram when she posted an image of her wearing a pair of Calvin Klein briefs, Marky Mark-style. In fact, every celeb and fashion blogger worth mentioning has tweeted or instagrammed themselves flashing the waistband of the iconic pants. (And Justin Bieber, but we’ll let that slide.)
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It goes without saying that these knickers are comfortable. You could probably go for a jog in them or lug a suitcase up a flight of stairs without needing to hoik the gusset out of your labia minora. Ever tried to run for the bus in a peephole bra? If normcore is all about low-key functionality, you can’t get any more functional than pants that stay in place without giving you a hernia.
Of course, I’m not discounting the fact that some lingerie is quite literally never meant to see the light of day. There are bedroom pants that are built to be worn and taken off in 15 minutes flat. To which I say: fine, but have you ever tried to wash spunk out of a silk bra? Nightmare. Give me machine washable 100% cotton any day.
When asked why he chose to nude colours for Acne’s first underwear line, creative director Jonny Johansson explained: ‘Underwear should be beige or skin-colored, because I prefer no underwear.’ After all, there’s something to be said about simplicity, which can be a turn-on in itself. To be honest, I can’t think of anything hotter.
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Pictures: Courtesy of Acne
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.