I Wish I Dressed as Fresh as Shia LaBeouf: The Resurrection of Normcore

Shia LaBeouf’s lurid, hot-pink skintight spandex leggings, Justin Bieber’s baseball cap perched jauntily atop a drawstring-tightened hoodie… Admittedly unforgettable (and, some might argue, unforgivable) looks, but are they perversely gauche faux pas or iconic normcore ingenuity? 

Shia LaBeouf, often credited as the godfather of normcore (although others might argue the pioneering importance of Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld), remains notorious for his pseudo-thoughtless outfits. Known for meshing “stonewashed military steez, outdoor tech-wear, sneakers, hiking boots, ironic graphic sweatshirts and generally ambiguous threads,” LaBeouf’s trademark outfits often revolve around one perplexing core principle: zero coordination. Although he seemingly “tries very hard to look blue-collar and… like the average person,” LaBeouf’s style choices fall so outside the ordinary that he “ultimately [accidentally or not] looks extremely put together.” I’m not sure DIY overly-distressed denim shorts and a tank top emblazoned with an enormous bow and all-caps BEAUTY across the chest coupled with Adidas slides and patterned socks exactly falls under the general consensus for what constitutes looking “put together,” but his outfits retain a certain je ne sais quoi that inspires emulation. For instance, consider one of his more well-known looks, reproduced by dozens of University of Michigan students across the Diag on a regular basis. His influence even stretches to hypebeast levels: in a surprising pop-culture crossover (including a lyrical shoutout), LaBeouf’s closet was raided by Kanye West to provide fodder for a Yeezy collection. 

While LaBeouf’s street-style heyday remains primarily anchored in the 2010s, his aesthetic influence continues to thrive in the stars of today. Jeremy Allen White, hailed as the “King of the Bodega Fit, the Master of Mess, the Doyen of Dishevelment” by GQ, presents one such example. Most know White from his role as Carmen Berzatto in Hulu’s The Bear; intriguingly, the style of both fictional Berzatto and actor White converges on-screen and off. 

Over the course of the seasons, Carmy adroitly pairs Levis 501s and J.Crew cable-knit sweaters with crisp (not literally- although he does store his spare deadstock denim in a handy empty oven) Thom Browne. He unites classic workwear (think essential Dickies and Carhartt, as well as more off-the-beaten-track brands including German Merz B. Schwanen and Ohio-based Velva Sheen) with the infrequent, quintessentially “hypebeast” Supreme flex. Overall, Carmy’s clothes are subtly cultivated; while he generally adheres to a classic black-pant-white-tee quasi-uniform, his discerning taste in how he selects those clothing items proves undeniable. White, however, explores a significantly more varied color palette: although he’s partial to a white wifebeater and a baggy (presumably rare vintage) denim or khaki pant, he frequently steps out in a variety of patterned or cool-hued loose short-sleeved button-downs, cardigans, and saturated cobalt sweater vests. 

Let’s talk footwear. Always on his feet, Carmy unsurprisingly chooses comfort over streetwear aesthetics at the Original Beef, opting for unfortunately orthopedic Birkenstocks (something in which LaBeouf might be spotted on a gas-station run besides tattered Uggs, for instance). In real life, White’s most frequently photographed in a pair of (admittedly more photogenic) blindingly white Nike Cortezes. (A choice which would certainly garner LaBeouf’s approval, given that he’s been sighted in the very same, albeit certainly more well-loved, shoe). 

Neither Berzatto nor White’s outfits can ever be complete sans a half-smoked cigarette, whether dangling jauntily or held carelessly mid-conversation (or, mid-makeout, as the case may be). (LaBeouf, by contrast, usually keeps his tobacco jauntily safe behind an ear.)

Another Carmy-Jeremy-Shia staple? An eternally tortured visage, regardless of situation. For Jeremy Allen White, this corresponds to situations including an invasive paparazzi shoot at the farmer’s market; for Carmy, this encompasses doing… literally anything sans cigarette in The Bear; for Shia, a furrowed brow is simply his modus operandi. 

A fusion of elevated grime and covert genius eddies throughout both LaBeouf’s and JAW’s style.  Looking to implement more elements of normcore in your daily look? Perhaps you already have: in order “to be truly normcore, you need to understand that there’s no such thing as normal.”