Fashion
Just How Demure Are You?
A TikTok trend has breathed new life into a fusty word.
If you opened TikTok this week and felt that suddenly everyone was using the word “demure” out of nowhere, you’re not alone.
Your morning coffee with just a little half-and-half? Demure. The way you sit down gracefully on the subway? Very demure. The way you floss your teeth after lunch in the office bathroom before returning to your cubicle? Absolutely, totally demure.
Seemingly overnight, an adjective usually reserved for a reserved woman has become the semi-ironic word du jour on social media.
On Aug. 2, a TikTok creator who goes by the name Jools Lebron posted a video with tips about managing makeup and mustache sweat and being demure.
Later that day, she posted another video, which has been viewed four million times, offering tips on how to be demure at work. “Very demure, very mindful,” she says, explaining her perfume, clothing and hairstyle choices for the workplace. Ms. Lebron has since posted dozens more such videos discussing how to be demure in all sorts of situations, like nail salons, hotels and drag shows.
Ms. Lebron, who did not respond to requests for comment, is one of several trans creators on TikTok whose playful use of “demure” in recent videos has helped the word catch on with other users.
