Very classy, very cute, very demure!
Beauty influencer Jools Lebron, who singlehandedly made the word “demure” jump in popularity across social media platforms over the past week or so, posted a candid update about how “TikTok has changed my life.”
Encouraging her followers to post their own TikTok videos, the creator, who identifies as a transgender woman, said in a post on Wednesday, “One day, I was playing cashier and making videos on my break, and now I’m flying across countries to host events, and I’m gonna be able to finance the rest of my transition.”
The “demure” trend has swept across TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and other platforms this week, with many tracing its viral spread back to a video Lebron posted on Aug. 5 about doing makeup for the workplace in a “demure and modest and respectful” manner.
“I don’t come to work with a green cut-crease,” Lebron says in the video that ignited the trend. “I don’t look like a clown when I go to work. I don’t do too much, I’m very mindful at work. See how I look very presentable? 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.”
Upon the video’s spread, Lebron has continued to create content for fellow “divas” on how to be “demure” in other random life scenarios, like boarding a plane, thanking hotel staff or flat-ironing one’s hair. Having exploded in popularity along with the term, Lebron now has 1.5 million TikTok followers and nearly 100 million likes across her videos on the platform. Other creators have joined in on the trend, labelling anything one can think of as “demure” or “not demure.”
Being “demure” — more of a vibe than a literal interpretation of the word — has now become more of a lifestyle, with some internet folks already coining it “demure fall” (which is a noticeable departure from the party-going vibes of “brat summer,” inspired by Charli XCX’s album “Brat,” should brat summer end and demure fall live on).
What exactly “demure” means is hard to pinpoint, but as long as one is mindful, classy and cute — and doesn’t wear a cut-crease makeup look to a job interview or work — they are likely on their way to achieving “demure” status.
