I live in an area where irony would be lost on the locals, too.
And honestly, I find irony pretentious and prefer to be straightforward when it comes to clothing.

" Is the only difference between my life and the streets of Soho a heavily woven cloak of irony?"
Ha, I love this.

Yes, I also read about this recently following the link love tidbit. Blew my mind at first. Still digesting. I thought the part where someone wrote it was inspired by google street views that showed average people and that they looked pretty good was interesting. I think I read that in a link followed from the ManRepeller site.

ETA: so are mom jeans a part of this? I am having such a hard time with the resurgence of mom jeans due to my personal history with such. I wonder where that whole thing is going.

I am stepping out in my unbranded PJs and crocs to support this movement.

Your post prompted me to read up on this term and I found several instructive sites. I gather the term's originators (Khole) mean normcore to denote an ability to adapt to the social milieu one finds oneself in, so it is largely to do with a sense of community and belonging and in that sense it relates to clothing choice.
The term has subsequently morphed into meaning dressing blandly, or "normally" and it would seem the original meaning has evaporated.
Pity, because I found Khole's introduction to the term fascinating.