Bye bye brat Why everyone is jumping on the demure’ bandwagon
The Guardian|August 17, 2024
Unless you have been living under a rock, you will have heard by now that we are living through a "brat summer".
Alaina Demopoulos, Ellie Violet Bramley
Bye bye brat Why everyone is jumping on the demure’ bandwagon

But there is a new buzzword-slashethos taking over: "demure".

Spawned by the latest album of pop star Charli xcx, brat - and its lime green colour - has symbolised a mood for hedonism and mess that has taken over this summer, even being embraced by Kamala Harris's presidential campaign, the UK's Green party and numerous brands.

Demure is, in some senses, the opposite of Charli Xcx's party-girl character. The word went viral this month, after content creator Jools Lebron coined the catchphrase "very demure, very mindful".

Ever since, she has been advising her 1.2 million followers on how to stay "very demure, very mindful"..

How does one behave demurely at work? "I'm very modest, I'm very mindful," Lebron said in one Tik Tok post. "The way I came to the interview is the way I go to the job. A lot of you girls go to the interview looking like Marge Simpson and go to the job looking like Patty and Selma. Not demure." When travelling with family, to be demure one must show up to the airport "very early, very on time, very considerate, very demure", when picking up an ID left at the bar don't stay and drink, rather take your ID and leave - "very cutesy, very demure".

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