The story
From norm(al) (“according to norms or rules or to a regular pattern”) + -core (suffix denoting genres of music and subcultures (often specialized and underground)), coined by the cartoonist Ryan Estrada in a guest comic strip for the webcomic Templar, Arizona on 17 September 2008: see the quotation. It was popularized in a stylized, tongue-in-cheek trend report produced by the collective K-HOLE in 2013.
First known use, by meaning
- from 2008 A unisex fashion trend characterized by average-looking, unpretentious clothing.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.