How has your week been? Have you been “very demure, very mindful” in your daily undertakings? Or are you still ensconced in your “brat summer” era?

If reading that paragraph made about as much sense as watching Olympic breakdancing (still living rent-free in my head a fortnight later), then worry not: I have spent hours perusing Google and scrolling social media to glean the necessary information, so you don’t have to.

Every so often I go down a rabbit hole like this where I try to get a grasp on what is fashionable. Is there any more potent reminder of getting older than the fact there was once a time when you simply knew all of these things effortlessly, as if by osmosis, but alas, no more?

Despite my struggles to stay hip (or “mad lit” as my extensive Googling has taught me is possibly the correct contemporary parlance), I can’t help but find it endlessly fascinating how on one level pop culture is evolutionary, yet on another, it is basically money for old rope.

Take “brat summer”. Inspired by the chart-topping singer Charli XCX and her recently released album Brat, the trend is said to be about embracing your chaotic, messy and wild side. Or, in other words, what we Gen Xers simply refer to as “life”.

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So-called “brats” aspire to be “dirty, hedonistic and happy”, with their colour du jour the same retina-searing radioactive green that features on the album cover (picture the gunge tanks on Saturday morning kid’s telly of yesteryear and you’ll know the exact shade I mean).

I’m definitely feeling a sense of deja vu. There are distinct echoes of 1990s ladette culture in there, not least with the description of “brat summer” essentials as being “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.

And I bet there are those who spent their formative years in the 1970s and 1980s, heck even the 2000s, who are reading this and also thinking it sounds uncannily familiar.

Yep, “brat summer” is merely sticking a 2020s, neon-hued label on the time-honoured rite of passage that is rebellion. Like I said: old rope.

Which brings us to our next order of business: the arrival of the “very demure, very mindful” trend. The concept was coined by US beauty influencer Jools Lebron, who has swiftly become TikTok’s satirical equivalent of Debrett’s with her take on etiquette and modern manners.

It began when Lebron imparted some pearls of wisdom about appropriate attire and make-up for the workplace, saying: “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.”

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The clip has since been viewed more than 37 million times. Unlike “brat summer”, which is dreary proof that every generation deludedly believes they have invented anarchy, the premise of “very demure, very mindful” is hugely tongue-in-cheek and amusing.

It both pokes fun and makes a salient point. Other videos by Lebron show how to disembark an aircraft, order food, pose for photographs and apply deodorant in a “very demure, very mindful” way.

This, in turn, has sparked a slew of copycat takes on everything from how to cut a slice of cake to reading a book without dog-earing the pages.

The official White House Instagram account even referenced the trend on a post about cancelling the student debt of almost five million Americans.

One of my biggest gripes of recent times is that far too many folk seem to exist in a bubble with zero care or awareness for what is going on around them.

The ethos of “very demure, very mindful” reminds us how our actions can impact upon others. It is about championing self-effacing and thoughtful behaviour, as opposed to blinkered selfishness. Here’s hoping that catches on.

Susan Swarbrick is a columnist and freelance writer who specialises in celebrity interviews, TV content and musings on popular culture. She also loves the outdoors and regularly covers sport. Follow her on X @SusanSwarbrick