‘Gen Z boss and a mini,’ explained: The new TikTok trend celebrates style and sass
If you could describe your overall vibe with two phrases, what would they be?
“Five-foot-three and an attitude”? “Gen Z boss and a mini”? Maybe even “cargo shorts and a really cool mullet”?
If you can think of two catchy descriptors that encapsulate your outfit and unique aura, you’ve got enough material to get in on the latest TikTok style trend. It’s simple enough: Users introduce their clothing ensembles with jaunty little chants to hype up themselves and their friends.
A trio of women in the UK apparently invented the format at the end of June, in a video in which they spotlight their outfits and hairstyles for a night on the town: “Boots and a slicked-back bun,” “cowboy boots and a blowie” — slang for blowout, a volumizing hair treatment—– and “(Adidas) Sambas and a little red bag.”
The employees of TBH Skincare in Australia took the trend to work, and their chants incorporated clothes, demeanors and descriptors that we viewers otherwise wouldn’t catch by looking at them, like “Gen Z boss and a mini” to describe their young manager who wore a short skirt to work, and “5-foot-3 and an attitude” for a shorter coworker who also wore a carnation-red cardigan — her sass, apparently, spoke louder than her clothes.
Even Amy Poehler, a burgeoning TikTok star herself, repeated the format with three of her former castmates — Rachel Dratch and Seth Meyers (in a drive-by cameo) from “Saturday Night Live” and Rashida Jones of “Parks and Recreation.”
Jones showed off her “pony and a cashmere shirt,” with Meyers bustling quickly past her like a ghost. Meyers did not introduce his own outfit, though if he had, he might have focused on his blue button-down and blindingly white sneakers.
Some TikTokers are using the trend to celebrate their own style, their unique shine too bright to share with others in the same video. A mulleted user who goes by Michael B. strutted his stuff by himself, alternating between light-up “disco glasses” and a sequin cowboy hat in red, white and blue.
Though the videos are generally affectionate, the responses to the clip of the women of TBH Skincare have been less charitable. (The Daily Dot called it “peak corporate cringe.”) So the employees and their Gen Z boss in a mini skirt posted a follow-up video in which they chanted some of the negative comments they received that encouraged them to “go back to the kitchen” or hoping that they’d be fired.
The brand even capitalized on its viral fame with a “Gen Z boss and a mini” bundle of skin care products. Corporate cringe though it may be, the trend is already paying off for the squad of TikTok-savvy skin care mavens.
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