diff --git a/options-table.c b/options-table.c
index ad666ad5..cf54bfa4 100644
--- a/options-table.c
+++ b/options-table.c
@@ -1102,7 +1102,7 @@ const struct options_table_entry options_table[] = {
 	  .type = OPTIONS_TABLE_STRING,
 	  .scope = OPTIONS_TABLE_WINDOW,
 	  .flags = OPTIONS_TABLE_IS_STYLE,
-	  .default_str = "bg=yellow,fg=black",
+	  .default_str = "noattr,bg=yellow,fg=black",
 	  .separator = ",",
 	  .text = "Style of indicators and highlighting in modes."
 	},
diff --git a/screen.c b/screen.c
index feaf3c22..8bfb7071 100644
--- a/screen.c
+++ b/screen.c
@@ -593,8 +593,7 @@ screen_select_cell(struct screen *s, struct grid_cell *dst,
 	if (COLOUR_DEFAULT(dst->bg))
 		dst->bg = src->bg;
 	utf8_copy(&dst->data, &src->data);
-	dst->attr = dst->attr & ~GRID_ATTR_CHARSET;
-	dst->attr |= src->attr & GRID_ATTR_CHARSET;
+	dst->attr = src->attr;
 	dst->flags = src->flags;
 }
 
diff --git a/style.c b/style.c
index 4e4f6fcc..ef3bb225 100644
--- a/style.c
+++ b/style.c
@@ -217,7 +217,9 @@ style_parse(struct style *sy, const struct grid_cell *base, const char *in)
 		} else if (strcasecmp(tmp, "none") == 0)
 			sy->gc.attr = 0;
 		else if (end > 2 && strncasecmp(tmp, "no", 2) == 0) {
-			if ((value = attributes_fromstring(tmp + 2)) == -1)
+			if (strcmp(tmp + 2, "attr") == 0)
+				value = 0xffff & ~GRID_ATTR_CHARSET;
+			else if ((value = attributes_fromstring(tmp + 2)) == -1)
 				goto error;
 			sy->gc.attr &= ~value;
 		} else if (end > 6 && strncasecmp(tmp, "width=", 6) == 0) {
diff --git a/tmux.1 b/tmux.1
index dc49472f..d53587d0 100644
--- a/tmux.1
+++ b/tmux.1
@@ -6307,6 +6307,8 @@ and
 .Ic list=right-marker
 mark the text to be used to mark that text has been trimmed from the left or
 right of the list if there is not enough space.
+.It Ic noattr
+Do not copy attributes from the default style.
 .It Xo Ic push-default ,
 .Ic pop-default
 .Xc