From ‘Brat Summer’ to ‘Demure and Mindful’: How Social Media Trends Confine Women

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After ‘Brat Girl Summer’, we quickly moved into the era of ‘Demure, Mindful’. This came after a string of rapid-fire trends like ‘It Girl’, ‘Clean Girl’, and ‘Coquette’, each offering a fresh take on personality and style. Nearly every month, a new trend sweeps through social media, setting the tone for how women should dress and behave—but only for a brief moment, before the next one arrives.

While we've grown accustomed to the rapid rise and fall of such social media trends, they often reveal a deeper, more troubling issue: the tendency to confine women to narrow labels based on fleeting cultural fads. We try to decode how.

What is ‘Brat’ Girl Summer?

For the uninitiated, singer Charlie XCX released her sixth studio album ‘Brat’, which a lime green colour background and the name in all lowercase. It went viral immediately, with Instagram and TikTok influencers using songs, the aesthetic and the ‘vibe’ of being unapologetically oneself on reels.

Singer Charlie XCX explained what the trend stood for in a video herself, which she posted on TikTok, a platform banned in India. “You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat,” she said in the video.

It got a fresh boost when Charlie endorsed Kamala Harris’ nomination for the US Presidential race, saying “Kamala IS Brat”. Kamala’s social media also reflected the aesthetic thereafter.

During "Brat Girl Summer” individuals embraced and celebrated a bold, unapologetic, and sometimes rebellious attitude. It included playful defiance, confident self-expression, and a carefree, fun-loving approach to life. They owned the term "brat" which signified a cheeky and spirited personality, rather than its traditional meaning denoting negative behaviour.

Brat summer encouraged women to let loose and have some fun.

Soon after, came a trend where women were being “demure and mindful,” which was everything opposite of Brat Summer.

Brat, Demure, It-Girl: The Evolving, Fast-Paced World of Social Media Trends

The “Very Demure, Very Mindful” trend took social media by storm after a beauty influencer coined the term to describe her toned-down, modest makeup look. It quickly spread, inspiring memes and reels that touched on everything from fashion to everyday situations.

Read: How Social Media And Therapy Speak Could Be Ruining Relationships

In recent years, other trends like 'Hot Girl', 'It Girl', 'Clean Girl', and 'Coquette' have also dominated social media. For example, "Hot Girl Walks" encouraged women to take empowering walks, while "Girl Dinners" showcased meals thrown together from whatever was in the fridge. The "Coquette" trend celebrated girlhood with bows and feminine touches, and "Clean Girl" was all about the natural, no-makeup makeup look. Trends like "Girl Math" and "It Girl" followed in a continuous stream of girl-focused social media crazes.While these trends may seem lighthearted and fun, they also tend to put women into narrow boxes, often leaving certain groups out entirely.

How Social Media Trends Box Women, and Are Often Exclusionary

Most social media trends tend to categorize women into neat "personality" types, often creating rigid and exclusionary labels.

For instance, the "brat" trend sidelines women who prefer discipline or a simple, non-controversial lifestyle. The "Demure and Mindful" trend leaves out those who embrace a more carefree or reckless attitude. The "Clean Girl" aesthetic promotes flawless, even-toned skin, ignoring women with acne, pigmentation, or other skin marks. Similarly, the "Coquette" trend excludes those who feel more comfortable in gender-neutral clothing.

It’s interesting to note, that all of these trends revolve around women. There are few, if any, equivalent trends that dictate how men should dress or behave. One dominant trend for men is the no-shave November, where men don’t shave beards for a month, but that hardly dictates anything more about appearance, lifestyle or personality. Social media rarely pressures men to conform to seasonal fads in the same way, revealing a double standard in how fashion and lifestyle trends target women far more intensely.

These trends often gain massive popularity, generating worldwide impressions. With much of our lives unfolding on social media, they tend to set the standard for how women are expected to dress and behave during that season. However, the question remains—how healthy is it for fleeting social media fads to constantly dictate fashion and behaviour?

One thing is certain: these trends leave little room for diverse expressions of individuality. By boxing women into rigid categories, they limit the possibility for different versions of womanhood to coexist freely, forcing many to either conform or feel left out altogether.